Divinity
by tranquilwriter
Summary: AU. ItaHina. Slight NejiHina. "A savage place! as holy and enchanted As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted By woman wailing for her demon-lover!" -Kubla Khan.
1. Prologue

**Author Note: **This is a short teaser for my new ItaHina that will be uploaded towards the end of May. The first chapter will be up around then, and it will explain more details about the actual story. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**[Edited]**

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**Divinity**

**Prologue**

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"_A savage place! as holy and enchanted As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted By woman wailing for her demon-lover!"_

_-Kubla Khan_

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"Face it, you wench. There's no hope for you anymore. Your life is over, along with that spawn's life inside of you." The older man with those striking green eyes continued to taunt her with sadistic malice.

The indigo-haired woman was restrained against the cold and damp stone wall behind her. Chains and metal clasps were locked around her ankles and wrists, preventing any attempt at movement on her part. Her body slouched forward due to the extra weight in her overgrown stomach. Her head was lowered, allowing for her dark hair to form a curtain around her face, where only her opal downcast eyes shown with a faded glow.

The man chuckled deeply and reached over to grip onto her chin roughly, forcefully directing her gaze towards those glowing green eyes that contained more evil than a human should be allowed to contain. "It's all your fault, you know. If you had been smarter, you wouldn't be in this position. You'd be living peacefully at your little mansion with all your little friends, and not one of us would've cared or minded." He scowled then and sank his nails into her delicate pale skin, leaving engraved crescents lining her jaw.

Hinata whimpered at the pain, but she refused to cry. In any normal circumstance, she would've been bawling her eyes out, but this was different. She couldn't show weakness or vulnerability. She had to be strong…She had to stay strong…for him, because that's what he expected of her during times like these.

His other hand gripped around her neck before slowly trailing down to the exposed valley between her breasts. "I can easily see what that demon saw in you." He smirked and licked his lips hungrily. "You're such a delicacy…" He breathed as his one hand traced the outline of her breast, not noticing the repulsive shudder wracking through the woman's body. "You're such an enticing creature…"

Hinata looked at him through her hooded eyes with a rare feeling of anger in her heart. She watched with labored breaths as the man drew closer and closer to her until his lips were a mere inch away.

He was smirking more maliciously this time as his hand left her breast and began to move past her rounded belly and downward to an area he was not allowed to touch. He glanced back at all the other men in the room, who were watching with a slight envious amusement to their eyes. Turning back to the woman, he continued and moved forward with the clear intention to claim her lips. "You'll be executed for your crimes tomorrow at dawn. Surely, I'm allowed to have a little fun with you before then. It's not like anyone's going to come for you. It's not like they _can_."

With that, Hinata cringed as she felt his lips crush against hers, and not a second later, his tongue pushed its way into her mouth. Feeling utterly disgusted and even more angry, she bit down on his tongue hard, making him take a sharp step backwards with wide astonished eyes. His hand moved up to his mouth to wipe away the blood that was now leaking from his damaged organ. His eyes glowed with fury. "You little bitch!" He muttered before backhanding her and giving her a solid punch to the jaw with his other hand.

When he finally backed off, Hinata's head was lowered even further as her own blood began to drip from the corners of her mouth. The stinging in her face was nothing compared to the damage that was done to the rest of her body. Everything hurt and her vision was blurring. She was using up so much energy, and it was beginning to cost her greatly.

The man walked back towards her. "What a pathetic little whore you are. No, you're worse than a whore. At least a whore will screw her own kind. You're a traitor to your own species, and soon…you will die as one."

A sharp inward feeling hit her womb, making Hinata gasp and direct her tired eyes toward the only slim window in the entire dark and damp room of the tower. It would seem that she was just looking out at the full moon, but her eyes were looking past it and at something that nobody else in that room would be able to see.

"Give it up, woman." The man continued. "There's no hope left for you now. Just accept your punishment."

A small smile ghosted over her lips as her once tired eyes softened into relief. "You're wrong…" She murmured quietly. "There is hope…"

He snorted and glanced to where she was looking. "What? Do you think your demon is going to come for _you_? Sorry, but you were only good enough to screw. Demons are just that way. They do _nothing_ but kill humans." Raw bitterness seeped into his every word. "They don't care! So you think that he'd risk his _life_ just to come here for _you_?"

Her smile stretched a little as she turned back to stare at the man. "He's already here…"

In that next moment, an explosion occurred at the entrance gates to the village.

Not too long after, a familiar voice whispered into Hinata's ear to close her eyes. But even so, she could still hear the gruesome screams of bloodshed enveloping the room. If she were to look, she would see the mutilated body parts of the men who once occupied that room with her.

Also…

She would've seen the fierce look of possessiveness engraved into her demon lover's eyes as he slaughtered each one of them for even thinking about bringing harm unto her.

After all…

No one should be fool enough to harm what belongs to a notorious demon.

Especially a demon who went by the name of Itachi.

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**That's a small part of the actual story that will happen towards the end of the fic. Like I said, it's a teaser to see whether or not you would be interested in it. Well, tell me what you think and remember that the first chapter will get uploaded towards the end of May.**

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	2. Deity

**Important Note: **This story is greatly influenced by Ancient Roman culture. Actually, mainly just the outfits and the style of architecture. There are references to the typical roman goddess, but nothing specific. It's _like _Roman times, but then again not really. Just kind of go with it, okay? Oh and if you want to see the basic clothing style for the women, then click on the link on my profile page.

**[Edited]**

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**Divinity**

**Chapter I**

**Deity**

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**Divinity: A being having superhuman powers and control over a particular part of life or the world.**

**Deity: A god or goddess; one exalted or revered as supremely good or powerful.**

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"_Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it."_

_- Tori Amos_

"_The sick do not ask if the hand that smoothes their pillow is pure, nor the dying care if the lips that touch their brow have known the kiss of sin."_

_-Oscar Wilde_

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Five-year-old Hinata Hyuga knelt next to her mother, who was also hunched over a small flowerbed. It was the beginning of spring and the time for everything once dead to grow back. This was the reason why the mother and daughter were gazing down into the once lively—now dead—flowerbed. Hinata reached forward and gently stroked a nearby flower. Strangely, the petals were not as soft as she remembered. Instead, they were hard and shattered when pressured too tightly. "Mama?"

Hanako Hyuga smiled at her first born. "Yes, Hinata?"

"Um..." Hinata's wide innocent lavender eyes met her mother's identical ones. "Are the flowers sick?"

Her smile widened as she turned to look back at the deceased garden. "Yes...They got quite sick over the winter."

"Like a cold?"

With a tender laugh, Hanako smoothed Hinata's hair behind her ears. "Yes, like a cold."

Hinata took one more blank glance at the flowerbed before her face brightened. "W-We can give them medicine, and they'll be all better, right mama?"

"Well..." Touching her finger to her chin in thought, Hanako looked back at her daughter with intensity. "It would have to be a different kind of medicine than what we take."

"Like what?"

"Like healing of the heart."

"What's that, mama?"

Hanako grasped Hinata's tiny hands in her own and placed them over the small child's heart. "The best way for something or someone to heal...is to love them. By loving them, you're using your own will to heal them. So..." she placed her daughter's hands on the soil near the flowers. "If you care and love the flowers, they will heal and grow back just as beautiful—if not, more beautiful than before."

"R-Really?" Hinata's smile was wide in wonder as she gazed back at the flowers.

Instead of saying anything, Hanako was content to watch her daughter figure out what her words meant. However, she wasn't planning for what was going to happen next.

Hinata scooted closer until she was able to cradle one of the flowers in her hand. Holding onto it tightly, Hinata closed her eyes to focus. _I just have to love the flower and it will grow back. Mama said so. _Knowing this, Hinata concentrated very hard to feel love toward the flower and imagine it growing back just as beautiful as she remembered. Feeling content that she accomplished it, she opened her eyes and gazed down excitedly at what she had done. In her hand lay the same flower, except it was no longer wilted. Rather, it looked brand new. The stem was a healthy and strong green that matched its leaves. The petals had returned to their velvet texture and bright colors. "Mama, mama! Look, it worked!"

But, when Hinata looked back at her mother so she could receive praise, she was instead met with a very stunned and wide-eyed Hanako.

"Mama?" Hinata questioned, thinking she had done something wrong. "What's wrong, mama? Did I do it wrong?"

Still in shock, Hanako shook her head to clear her thoughts and stood up in one panicked motion. "No, Hinata. You didn't do anything wrong. Just...stay here for a moment. I need to go get your father." With that, Hinata watched her mother sprint back into their small cottage they called home.

Only a moment had passed before Hiashi and Hanako appeared by their inquisitive daughter's side. "What is it, Hanako?" he questioned indifferently.

Grasping onto his arm, Hanako pointed down to the single blooming flower. "There, that flower."

"Hmm…So, it survived the winter, did it?"

"No, that's just it. It didn't. It was dead until only a short while ago. Hinata made it bloom again."

His eyebrows lowered into a frown. "I'm not sure I understand."

Hanako sighed and knelt next to Hinata, who was just staring at them curiously. "Hinata, my dear...would you please do the same thing you did to another flower?"

"You mean..." Hinata tilted her head slightly. "You want me to heal another flower, mama?"

"Yes, yes. Heal another flower, so your father can see."

With a wide and beaming smile, Hinata scooted over to another dead flower and cradled it into her small palm. Closing her eyes and doing what she did before, the same occurrence happened. Upon releasing her hand, the flower was no longer dead, but blooming as if it were new.

Hanako turned to her husband with that same panicked look on her face. Hiashi was stunned as well, but quickly schooled his features back to stoicism. "Well, Hiashi? You don't think that..."

Hiashi turned around and walked closer toward the house with his wife on his heels. When they were out of earshot of their child, Hiashi began in a hushed tone. "This is unsettling."

"Hiashi, I'm worried." she grasped onto his hand tightly. "Hinata was able to bring that plant's life back. She healed it! Just by...thinking about it! How do you...explain something like that? Unless..." her eyes pleaded with his own.

Hiashi nodded solemnly. "I know...I was thinking of that as well. It is quite possible that...Hinata may be a deity, and the goddess' blood flows through her veins."

Hanako faced downward looking despaired. "What do we do?" she whispered.

With a reluctant sigh, Hiashi gazed over at his now singing daughter. "No one must know this. If we can keep it a secret, she will be safe."

"Weren't the other deities taken to the Divine Temple? I don't want Hinata to go there."

"The other deities were sent there because their powers were too noticeable, and could pose a threat to the villagers. Hinata's power seems to be a little more subtle. We can hide it and make sure that she's never found out."

Hanako nodded. "How do we explain this to her?"

"We don't." He quickly retorted. "She must not know much about it. Hinata is naturally curious. If she finds out about this, or even one little detail, she will continue to question it. Let's just give her as little knowledge as we can."

With another nod, Hanako left her husband's side to join Hinata. When she was near, Hinata smiled at her mother. "Did I do well, mama?"

This time, Hanako's smile was wavering, but it went unnoticed by the child. "Yes, Hinata. You did very well. But I need you to promise me something, okay?"

"Um...okay, mama."

"Can you promise me that you won't ever do that again?"

Hinata immediately became downtrodden. "I can't heal the flowers anymore?"

"No, sweetie." she stroked her hair again with a hidden sadness. "No more healing anything, okay? We'll keep it our little secret. You can keep a secret, can't you Hinata?"

Hinata's wide smile returned. "Yes, mama! I can keep a lot of secrets. No one will ever know. I won't say a word!"

"Good girl." Hanako kissed Hinata on the forehead. "Nobody will know..."

* * *

_**One year later...**_

"Hinata," Hiashi called from the front entrance to their humble home. "Come with me to the market. You can help carry a few things."

Hinata ran toward her father happily. "Okay, daddy! I'll help!"

Hiashi did not extend his hand to her, but gave her a warning. "Stay by my side, Hinata. I don't want you to get lost."

"Yes, daddy." she nodded in understanding and walked next to her father as they left for the center of Konoha.

When they reached the local market, Hinata followed after her father as he went between various food stands. She watched in fascination as her father talked and negotiated with the merchants for prices that proved correct and suitable. At her young age, she didn't know half of what her father and the merchant said, but that didn't stop her from being interested.

It wasn't until they were almost halfway done when Hinata got bored of watching her father, and instead gazed out at the crowd of unknown people. Konoha wasn't a big village, but it wasn't tiny either. There were many people she didn't know, but wondered if they were all as nice as she assumed they'd be.

For a quick second, Hinata's gaze drifted to the tallest hill in the village. It was very significant to the village due to the large mansion that was built on top of it. She remembered her parents telling her that it was called the Divine Temple, and only few were allowed to go there. If she remembered correctly, whoever lived there pretty much stayed there and never came out. To her, it almost sounded like a prison...a very well endowed prison.

An audible whine distracted Hinata's attention from the building, only to land on an old man and a dog just a few feet away from her. The old man was sitting against a wall with a large dog lying at his feet. The man himself was dressed in ragged clothes, with no shoes, and his gray beard was speckled with dirt and other things she wasn't sure of. The dog was what caught her attention the most. It looked about as old as the man, and it was letting out whimpers and whines as if it were in pain.

Hinata, being the sympathetic child she was, walked closer to the duo until she was standing just in front of them. The man was currently trying to shush the animal, but sighed in defeat shortly afterward. It was then that he noticed the child staring questionably down at him. He smiled at her with a toothless grin. "Hey there, little girl. Ain't you a cutie."

Hinata blushed and smiled shyly. "H-Hello..."

"What's your name?"

"M-My name is H-Hinata."

"Hinata, eh?" he laughed heartily. "A cute name for a cute little girl."

"Th-Thank you, sir."

"Ah, no need to call me 'sir'. I ain't noble or nothin'." he laughed again while absently stroking his dog's ears.

Hinata's eyes drifted down to the large dog and knelt down near it. She glanced to her side, seeing that her father was still busy with the merchant, so she looked at the dog once again. "Is your doggy sick?"

"Huh? Oh! You mean this mutt here?" he patted the dog's head. "Nah, he ain't sick. He just gone and broke his back leg the other day. He's in a lot of pain right now." he nodded his head, looking remorseful. "With an injury like that, he ain't gonna live much longer."

"Really?" Hinata questioned with her eyebrows furrowed. "That's so sad."

"Yup. What can you do, though? Poor lad's seen his last sunrise this mornin'."

Hinata gazed over the dog until it landed on the visible hind leg, which had a noticeable open wound. The blood was slightly dried up already with flies roaming around it. "M-May I look at it please?" she asked the old man.

"Of course. Just don't irritate it or nothin'. Poor mutt's in enough pain as it is."

"I promise I won't, sir." Hinata smiled at him before moving to sit right in front of the dog's leg. For a second, she just looked at it depressingly. She wanted to help it so much! If only she could do something. In her mind, though, she knew she could. The only trouble was, was that her mother had told her not to heal anything anymore. She said it had to be a secret. But, the dog was in pain. She couldn't just let the poor dog be in pain. With a nod, she edged closer and hovered her hands over the wound. She closed her eyes tightly, which allowed her to not notice the old man's intense and curious gaze. Inwardly, she was concentrating. _Mama said if I love it, I can heal it. I just have to will it to heal, like mama said. _

She felt a quick surge of energy flow into her arms and out of her hands. As it was dispersing, she couldn't help but feel like she was getting a little weaker. It wasn't until she opened her eyes that she realized how tired she had suddenly gotten. But that went away the moment she saw that there was no longer a wound on the dog's leg, and the dog wasn't whining anymore. Instead, it stood up and nuzzled his head against Hinata's face giving her playful licks. Hinata giggled and stroked the dog's fur. _I did it! I made the doggy better!_

Hinata's excitement was short-lived once she heard the old man's exclamation. "Oh my lord!" he stood up and began pointing down to Hinata, averting everyone's attention to her. "She's a deity! The girl has goddess blood in her veins! She's a deity!"

Hiashi snapped his attention to them and immediately went wide-eyed. He dropped the produce he was looking at, and nearly ran to his daughter's side to grab her hand. He had to get her away now!

People started gathering around and murmured to each other about the old man being crazy. Nonetheless, he continued on. "This girl just healed my dog's leg. It was broken, and she healed it! Take a look! His leg is as good as new! The girl has goddess blood!"

Now, the villagers were crowding around with shocked expressions. As Hiashi grasped onto Hinata's hand and picked her up into his arms to run away, he could hear the whispers of the villagers.

On his way back to their home, it didn't surprise him that they were being closely followed. Hinata began to cry softly. "I'm sorry, daddy. I-I didn't mean to...I just wanted to h-help the doggy...I-I'm sorry, daddy..."

"Shh—Hinata. Now's not the time. We have to get you home."

"But, daddy...I-I gave away our s-secret...I'm sorry..."

"It doesn't matter anymore, Hinata. Just stay quiet for now." he muttered absently while trying to keep his quick pace. Once he was able to see his home, he almost wanted to leap for joy. Without slowing down, he pushed open the door and ran inside, shutting it closed only a half-second after. With his back pushed firmly against the door, he put Hinata down and called for his wife.

"What is it, Hiashi?" she came around the corner, cradling their youngest daughter in her arms. When she saw his worried face, it heightened her own panic. "What happened?"

"Hinata healed some dog in the marketplace today. Now, everyone knows!"

Hanako looked down to the weeping Hinata, and instantly closed her eyes in sorrow. "What do we do now, Hiashi?"

When he was sure that no one was going to bust down their door, he glanced over to his oldest daughter and lowered his head gravely. "There's only one thing we can do..."

"You don't mean...? No, Hiashi!" Hanako ran to his side with her eyes pleading with his in desperation. "No, Hiashi, please! Hinata is _our _daughter! She needs to stay with us!"

"With us, she is unprotected. By this time tomorrow, everyone in the village will be at our door and windows craving for the attention of a deity! We can do nothing for her, but..._they _can. They can help. They can protect her and keep her safe."

Hanako began to sob quietly while hugging her baby close to her chest. "But...we...we won't ever see her again...She'll be taken away from us...We won't see her anymore!"

Hiashi stepped closer to his wife and placed his hands on her shoulders to help calm her. "I know. It won't be easy, but we have to do this for Hinata's sake." He lifted her chin with his finger so they could stare eye to eye. "Hinata is our first priority."

"I-I know..." she nodded despairingly.

Hiashi nodded and faced the door. "I'll go tell the matriarch. She'll send someone to help us escort Hinata to the temple."

* * *

There was something about seeing the Divine Temple firsthand that demolished any earlier thoughts about it. On top of the sole hill in Konoha, the temple looked large and could've been called a mansion. Somehow, seeing it up close made it resemble a castle more than a simple mansion. At least, that was Hinata's first thought. What she also noticed was that almost every part of the large structure was white. To her, it looked like a holy place. It looked like a castle that fell to the earth from Heaven itself. She imagined that even in the darkest hours of the night, the temple would still shine brightly. Luckily, this managed to calm Hinata's nervous fears.

Of course, the front of the gigantic palace was nothing compared to the lavish inside. The entryway was probably the size of Hinata's entire house. The ceiling was high, and the whole building was lit with candles that were embedded into the walls. She was so used to the single oil lamp they had for their own house, that this all seemed so...extravagant. She couldn't help but be in complete awe at every corner her eyes strayed to.

On each side of her, her mother and father walked with their hands holding onto hers. Her baby sister, Hanabi, was sleeping in her mother's free arm. Next to her parents were two young men, who barely looked out of their teens. One was tall with white hair and a mask covering the bottom half of his face, and the other was more built with dark brown hair and his hands in his pockets. Hinata remembered hearing her parents refer to them as the escorts.

The two young men led the family into a large room with double doors as the entrance. It wouldn't surprise her if every room in the place had double doors. Once the doors were closed behind them, she began to take notice of the very large room. It had a high ceiling like the rest of the mansion, and it was brightly lit. The only pieces of furniture in the room were two long couches separated by a long low table. So far, they were the only inhabitants in the room.

The man with dark hair invited the family to sit on one of the couches while they went through another set of doors. When they returned, there were two new people with them. There was an older man along with a beautiful blonde lady, who looked anything but her own age. They both smiled at the family and walked toward the couch placed opposite them. "Greetings, Hyuga family. Welcome to the Divine Temple." the woman greeted just before taking a seat on the couch followed by the older man, who had long white hair and a wide smile on his face. When they both sat, the lady turned to the two young men. "Asuma, Kakashi, you two are dismissed. Thank you for your assistance."

They nodded curtly and left the room in a flash. Even Hiashi was surprised at their speed.

When they had left, the woman turned to the family with that comforting smile still on her face. "You may call me Lady Tsunade. I am the matriarch here, and this man next to me is the patriarch."

"I'm Lord Jiraiya. It's nice to meet you folks." He introduced himself and leaned back in the couch to get more comfortable.

"It's a pleasure to meet you two as well." Hiashi bowed his head in respect. "As you already know, I am Hiashi Hyuga, and this is my family. My wife Hanako, my eldest daughter Hinata, and my youngest Hanabi."

Despite the other introductions, the two kept their gazes solely on Hinata. It was almost as if they were watching her analytically. "So, you are the Hinata we've heard so much about." Tsunade leaned forward, entwining her fingers together. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Hinata."

"Aw, isn't she the cutest thing you've ever seen?" Jiraiya laughed. "What an adorable little girl."

Hinata blushed and lowered her gaze shyly. "I-It's nice to m-meet you as well, Lady Tsunade, L-Lord Jiraiya."

"And she's polite too!" he gushed. "She'll be such a nice change from the other little girls we have. They have such attitudes at such a young age..." he trailed off into a grumble.

Tsunade sighed and glared at him. "Would you quiet down? Do you intend to scare them away?"

She gave him one more menacing glare before switching her face to her recent smile when she faced the family. "You'll have to excuse him. He's a sad excuse for a patriarch."

"Oh, come on, Tsunade!"

"Shut up!" she hissed to silence him, which actually worked. "I apologize again. Now, let's get down to business, shall we?" her smile faded and formed into a more professional appearance. "I understand that you have reason to believe that this young girl has showed signs of being a deity."

"Yes, Lady Tsunade." Hiashi answered. "We discovered this about a year ago."

"And what can she do exactly?"

"Well..." he paused uncertain how to word it. "I believe the simplest way to put it would be that she can heal things."

"Anything?" Tsunade raised a brow.

"Actually, all we've seen her heal are a few flowers and the broken leg of a dog."

"Amazing..." Jiraiya touched his hand to his chin.

"Truly..." Tsunade agreed. "We'll have to see it firsthand, but I don't believe you are lying, Mr. Hyuga. Healing has been known to be one of the goddess' gifts. Judging by this girl's…personality—or what we've seen so far—I wouldn't doubt it. She seems quite capable to have such a gift bestowed upon her. Something of that magnitude is meant only for one with a pure heart and soul."

"Most children have that innocence." Hiashi contradicted.

Tsunade smirked. "But rarely does it stay that way. Hinata here seems to have that characteristic about her." There was silence for a brief moment before Tsunade stood up and looked around the room. The others watched silently as she scoured the room. At last, she returned with a plant that looked quite dead. It was in a ceramic pot, and the leaves were crinkled and more brown than green. With an interested smile, she placed the pot on the table in front of Hinata. "Hinata, can you heal this plant?"

"I'll try, Lady Tsunade." Hinata leaned closer and hovered her hands until they were just brushing against the leaves. The adults watched intensely while Hinata shut her eyes tightly closed and focused on her task at hand. Before their very eyes, the plant was changing back into a healthy green with the leaves becoming thicker as well as perkier.

When Hinata's hands returned to her lap, she looked at the two stunned adults. Their eyes didn't stray from the newly revived plant. Jiraiya broke the silence with a laugh. "That is amazing! That plant looks even better than when we purchased it!"

Tsunade leaned back into the couch and rested her fist under her chin. "You truly do have the healing abilities." her eyes met Hinata's with an intense curiosity. "Have you ever tried healing people, Hinata?"

"Um, no…I h-haven't…"

Tsunade smiled. "Would you consider trying it for me?"

Hinata's head tilted in question. "How, Lady Tsunade?"

Her smile became somewhat sly as she placed her thumb at her mouth and bit down. She held it out for them to see the blood that had begun to seep through her broken skin. "Would you heal this for me, Hinata?"

Shaking away the momentary shock Hinata had when she saw the lady bite her own thumb, Hinata nodded and leaned forward once again. Both her hands held onto Tsunade's thumb, and when Hinata's eyes closed, Tsunade could feel her thumb getting warm and tingling. The second Hinata's eyes opened and she returned her hands to her sides, the cut on Tsunade's thumb had disappeared completely.

With a nod of approval, Tsunade spoke to the family. "No more tests need to be done. It is confirmed. She is indeed a true deity. On that note..." she trailed off, noticing the sorrowful expression Hinata's mother held. With a sigh, she stood up and smiled kindly to Hinata. "Hinata, will you come with me for a moment?"

"Um..." Hinata looked to her parents for permission and her father nodded. She stood up and faced the blonde woman. "Yes, Lady Tsunade."

With another smile, Tsunade led Hinata toward the doors. She glanced over her shoulder at the older man. "Jiraiya,"

He nodded seriously. "I'll do the explaining."

Tsunade nodded curtly and escorted Hinata out of the room, leaving the others inside.

* * *

Once outside the room, Tsunade walked with Hinata over to an open room, where there were more couches. After sitting down, Tsunade tried to be as comforting and friendly to the little girl as she could. After all, the girl seemed the type to get scared easily. "Hinata, do you like stories?"

With a wide exuberant smile, Hinata nodded fervently. "I do! I love stories!"

Tsunade laughed. "That's good. Did your parents ever tell you about the goddess that used to live here in Konoha?"

Judging by the confused look on the girl's face, it proved that she was clueless. "Um, no…"

"Okay. Let's start with that then." she paused shortly to gather her thoughts. "Many centuries ago, there was a goddess by the name of Gaia. Well, one day when she was looking over the lands and villages, her attention stayed on one village in particular—this one. But it wasn't just the village that caught her eye. It was a man...a man who she had fallen in love with." She could easily tell that Hinata was interested and getting excited over the story. "The man in turn fell in love with her. So, in order to be with the man, Gaia gave up her immortality. Even though she had become mortal, her powers stayed with her. And with those powers she was able to help the village prosper.

"In time, she gave birth to five daughters. Now, as the years passed on, she and her husband began to age greatly. When Gaia passed away, she made sure to pass on her powers to each of her daughters, so they could continue to help the village prosper.

"Although...when the daughters died, their powers did not pass onto their children, so it was thought that the powers of the goddess had died as well. Luckily, the village did continue to go on and live its peaceful existence. And soon, the goddess and her daughters became just a legend." she smiled now. "But a few centuries later, a generation of young girls—like yourself—were found to have the same powers that the goddess had. The villagers worshiped the girls and treated them like gods. But instead, they were given the name 'Deity'. This was because they were considered descendants of the goddess.

"But once again, when the girls died, so did their powers. Unlike before, they did not return to a legend. Instead, the village waited for the day when the new deities would be born. It was proven that every hundred years or so, there was a generation of girls who were born with the gifts. Unfortunately, as time went on, the villagers relied too greatly upon their power, and thus exhausting the deities. They became closer to death due to the over-usage of their powers. It is because of this, that the Divine Temple came to be."

"Um...Lady Tsunade?" Hinata questioned meekly.

"Hm?"

"Um...well...A-Am I...a deity too?"

With her smile still present, Tsunade nodded. "Yes, you are. You are a descendant of the goddess herself and thus contain one of her powers."

Hinata nodded slowly and drifted her gaze to her lap. "Is that bad?"

"No, no, of course not." She tried to reassure her. "But, it comes at a price. The reason the Divine Temple was built was for the protection of the deities. Over the years, the villagers became too obsessed with the deity's power. Eventually, their obsession would cause harm unto the gifted girls. Therefore, the deities came to live here in order to be protected. Since then, it has been customary that any girl who showed signs of being a deity was to come live here."

Hinata stayed quiet for a moment to let the words sink in. Once she understood what was being said, she looked up at the older lady with a saddened gaze. "D-Does that mean that...that I have to l-live here too?"

"Yes...but it is to help protect you. We only want to ensure your safety. That is why your parents brought you here." She noticed that Hinata looked near to tears, so she scooted closer and rested her hand on top of Hinata's. "Your parents love you very much, Hinata. They don't want to see you get hurt, which is why...they have brought you here to stay."

Despite her comforting words, tears welled up in the young child's eyes and threatened to spill over. "S-So...I-I won't see mama and daddy again?"

"I'm afraid not as much as you would like. They are allowed to come visit you once in awhile, but not frequently. However..." she caught the younger girl's attention. "You can always write to them. I'm sure your mother would love that."

With another nod, Hinata began to dry her tears. "O-Okay...But...c-can I s-say goodbye first...?"

* * *

"You understand that Hinata will now be staying here?" Jiraiya asked with his tone completely serious.

Hiashi nodded. "We understand. We only want to make sure that our daughter is safe and cared for properly."

"I can assure you," Jiraiya spoke. "No harm will come to your daughter, and we will do everything in our power to assist her with her gift. We will make her feel at home here."

Hanako decided it was time to speak up, otherwise she would start sobbing again. "When will we be able to see her?"

Jiraiya began to appear grimmer. "I'm afraid we can not allow frequent visits. Once every five months is pardonable, but anything more than that would just be a hindrance to how well Hinata adapts here. You need to understand that this is her home now. Seeing her family too often can cause her to undergo deep depression and longing. We've seen it before and can only place strict orders against it nowadays."

"We understand. We only want our daughter's happiness." Hiashi spoke sincerely while holding onto his wife's hand firmly.

Jiraiya smiled admirably. "You are good parents for doing so. I'd hate to say that we have not seen many like you. Most mothers and fathers fear what their child has become, and that usually ends in child abandonment. Either that or they simply keep their child isolated so her powers belong to them only. It is refreshing to see parents who do not act so selfishly concerning their child."

A moment of silence passed before Hanako sniffed and tried to collect herself. "I'd like to say goodbye to my daughter, if that's alright."

Jiraiya nodded solemnly. "Of course." he stood up, as did the Hyugas. With a reassuring smile, he said, "Do not worry. Hinata will be happy here."

* * *

**End of chapter one. Please Review!**


	3. Adaptation

**Author Note: **Thank you so much for all the reviews! I'm glad that you guys are liking it so far. And don't worry, Itachi will make his first appearance in the next chapter. This chapter will basically introduce everyone else, besides Itachi. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**[Edited]**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter II**

**Adaptation**

* * *

__

"Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity."

- Hippocrates

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."

-_Anais Nin_

* * *

Bidding farewell to her family was difficult for Hinata and did not go without tears. As she followed Tsunade down the long corridor leading to her new room, Hinata's tears still flowed freely down her face. Tsunade glanced back to the girl, who was letting out a few sniffles. "It's late, so all the other girls are in bed right now. But, I'll be sure to introduce you to them tomorrow."

Now, Hinata's grief was replaced with anxiety. She was always nervous when meeting new people. She could only hope that they would like her.

"They're nice girls, and I have a feeling they'd get along with you quite well, Hinata." she encouraged with a smile. She faced back forward and stopped at a random pair of double doors. Without pausing, she turned the handle and pushed the door open, lighting a few candles in the process. When the room was fairly well illuminated, Tsunade stepped aside so the little girl could enter and gaze at the surroundings.

Hinata would be lying if she said that the room wasn't impressive. The first object she noticed was the large canopy bed that seemed a lot bigger than the bed she remembered her parents owning. The rest of the room was decorated elegantly with shiny wooden furniture. Next, she couldn't miss the pair of glass doors that led out onto a balcony.

"This will be your room. I already had a servant come and fill your wardrobe with your clothes that you will be wearing. If they don't fit, we'll make sure to get them re-sized to better fit you. As for now," she knelt down to be eye-level with Hinata. "I think it'd be best if you got some sleep. You look tired."

Hinata nodded and rubbed her eyes to dry away her tears. "Th-Thank you, Lady Tsunade."

With a cheerful smile, Tsunade shook her head and gently hugged her. "No need to thank me, Hinata. This is your home now, and we all want you to feel comfortable here." she released her and stood up, nearing the door. "If there's anything you need, don't hesitate to ask, alright?"

Hinata nodded with a shaky smile. "Yes, L-Lady Tsunade."

"Okay...well, I'll leave you to get changed and ready for bed. I'll be sure to be the first one to wake you up in the morning and I'll explain everything else to you then." With that, she left out of the room, leaving Hinata alone in her new bedroom.

After a short moment of gazing around the large room once again, Hinata went to her dresser and searched around for something that would be comfortable as nightwear. After changing, she climbed into her bed and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the down-feathered pillow. There was no doubt in her mind that tomorrow would be quite eventful.

* * *

An audible knock on the door awoke Hinata from her deep sleep. The bright sunrays seeped through the curtains separating her balcony from her bedroom, signaling that it was definitely morning. She sat up slowly in bed and began to rub her eyes tiredly. While doing so, the door to her room opened and in walked Tsunade. Seeing the sleepy girl, Tsunade smiled softly. "Good morning, Hinata."

"G-Good morning, Lady Tsunade." Hinata smiled, followed by a short yawn.

Tsunade made her way over to Hinata's wardrobe and opened the small doors. "Did you sleep well?" she asked with her back facing the small girl.

"Yes, thank you." She replied politely and jumped down from her large bed. While in her white nightgown, Hinata walked toward the matriarch.

"Well, that's good. I was supposed to wake you up earlier, but…" she turned around with a piece of clothing draped over her arm. "I thought I'd let you sleep in." she winked.

Hinata smiled shyly and folded her hands in front of her.

Tsunade walked closer until she was standing merely a foot in front of the young Hinata. She held out the pure white garment in her arms, extending it for Hinata to take. "This is your outfit you'll be wearing from now on. It's quite comfortable—or so I'm told. And look at that, the dress is the same color as your eyes." She laughed.

Hinata retrieved the dress and held it in front of her to look at. Tsunade said it was comfortable, but Hinata could easily describe it as beautiful. It was the type of gown that just emanated royalty. While Hinata was admiring her new outfit, Tsunade nodded to herself and walked toward the door. "I'll just leave you to dress. When you're done, I'll be out in the hallway waiting for you, okay?" she asked as she opened the door.

Hinata faced her and smiled. "Okay, Lady Tsunade. U-Um…thank you."

Tsunade nodded and closed the door behind her, leaving Hinata alone to dress.

* * *

The matriarch Tsunade led Hinata down the long winding corridors. So far, all she had seen on the "tour" was bedrooms—a lot of bedrooms. It wasn't until they drew near to the west wing of the mansion that Hinata began to see new faces. The first stop in the area was the kitchen. Tsunade introduced Hinata to the kitchen staff and told them that she was the new deity. They greeted her kindly and continued with their vigorous cooking.

After the kitchen, Hinata was shown the dining hall where everybody in the mansion ate their meals. The various tables were sorted according to different status. There was a table for the patriarch, matriarch, and other caretakers. One table was for the deities strictly, and a few other tables for the security and the guardians. All in all, the room was enormous and seemed to fit the rest of the building quite well. And just like the rest of the mansion, elegant candle chandeliers illuminated every room.

However glamorous the room was, there was something that had caught Hinata's attention since she entered. At one table sat three young men with unknown drinks in their hands. Two of the men Hinata recognized from the night prior.

Without hesitation, Tsunade walked over and greeted the men. Once they noticed the matriarch, they stood up quickly and bowed respectfully. "Hello, gentlemen. I'd like to introduce to you the new deity." She glanced to her side, motioning toward the shy little girl peeking out from behind her leg. "Her name is Hinata."

The two men Hinata recognized nodded their heads, but the one she didn't recognize gave her a blinding smile.

"Hinata, these men are our current security. They're known as the best in all the nation." She motioned to the masked man. "That one there is named Kakashi. The one next to him who smells like smoke constantly would be Asuma. And lastly, the grinning idiot goes by the name of Gai."

Hinata nodded. "I-It's nice to m-meet you."

The smiling man with a weird haircut and bushy eyebrows bent over towards her. "She is absolutely adorable! The youthfulness within her shines brighter than the dazzling sun in—"

"Alright, that's enough Gai. You don't want to traumatize her, do you?" Tsunade scolded and began to leave before he could say anything back.

--

They entered a new hallway with lots of windows on one side of the wall overlooking the spacious gardens. Tsunade stopped at one window in particular and moved aside so Hinata could take a look. Outside were about nine young boys sparring with each other and practicing various kinds of fighting techniques. "Those boys are training to be of some use here at the temple. About half is training to be guardians to the deities, and the others are striving to be of service in the security department. The three men you just met, along with the patriarch Jiraiya, are specially training them all." Tsunade explained. "Once they have completed their training, the guardians will be assigned to each one of you girls in order to protect. Of course, that might not happen for a few years; their training has only begun." She sighed. "Well, shall we continue?"

Hinata gazed at the group of boys for a moment longer before nodding and smiling at the older lady.

The two made a short stop at the hospital wing, where Hinata met the head doctor named Shizune. Even though she seemed quite nice to Hinata, she also came off as a bit tense. They didn't have long to chat since Shizune had other matters to attend to.

With a smile on her face, Tsunade led Hinata to the final part of the mansion where she was to meet the other deities. They approached a large door and entered fluidly. Inside, Hinata was greeted with yet another extravagant room. Windows covered most of the walls with a few doors separating them. The sole glass door led out into the gardens that Hinata had seen earlier. Personally, it was the gardens she was most excited to see.

Even though Hinata had been nervous before entering the room, she soon found out that there was no need to be. There was only one person in the room, and it was a young lady with dark curly hair and blood red eyes. Without Tsunade having to grasp her attention, the woman stood up and walked toward them gracefully with a small smile on her face. "Lady Tsunade," she bowed and took a quick glance at the small girl next to the matriarch. "And who is this?"

Suddenly seeing a more gentle smile appear on the woman's features helped Hinata to relax and smile back with just as much enthusiasm. "M-My name is H-Hinata."

"Hinata? That's a beautiful name." She knelt down to be eye-level with the timid girl. "My name is Kurenai. It's nice to meet you."

"I-It's nice to meet you t-too, Miss Kurenai." Hinata smiled widely with a small blush painting her cheeks.

Tsunade chuckled. "Kurenai, Hinata here is our new deity."

Kurenai looked up at that and stood until she was talking straight to the matriarch herself. "Another deity already?"

"She's the last one—I'm sure of it."

"I see…" Kurenai crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you going to take her to meet the others?"

"Of course. Where are they anyway?"

"Oh, they're outside with Anko. They should be finishing up with her soon and heading off to lunch."

"All right, we'll head out there then." She paused. "Oh, and Hinata?"

Hinata gazed up at her questionably.

Tsunade pointed to Kurenai. "Kurenai here is going to be your schoolmaster. She, Anko, and Shizune are considered the caretakers here at the temple. Okay?"

Hinata nodded in understanding and waved goodbye to Kurenai before being led out into the courtyard.

Once there, Hinata immediately spotted a group of four girls around her age and one woman about the same age as Kurenai. She assumed that the woman was this Anko that they were talking about earlier. If that was the case, then that meant that the four girls were the other deities. That was proven further by the identical gowns they all wore along with Hinata's gown. However, it wasn't just the group that had Hinata staring in awe, it was what they were doing. Each of the girls was doing something different that revolved around their individual powers.

A pink-haired girl was busy de-rooting trees and carrying them across the grass without so much as a drop of sweat coming from her brow. From what Hinata observed, the girl was simply moving the trees to other places as if rearranging them.

The brunette there, who had her hair in two buns atop her head, was sitting on the ground with a pile of random objects on one side and a pile of different types of weapons on the other. Hinata watched as she picked up a rock, covered her hands around it completely, and when her hands left the rock it had turned into a small dagger, which she placed in the weapons pile.

There were two blondes there, but one blonde definitely looked older than the others did. The younger one wasn't doing anything other than just laying on her back with her eyes closed in concentration. To Hinata, it just looked like she was sleeping even though her entire body was stiff and tense.

The older blonde had quite an interesting power in Hinata's eyes. She watched with merriment as the girl was waving her hands around and manipulating the air itself into forming into different shapes barely visible to the human eye.

"Hinata," Tsunade's voice broke her out of her observations. "Come." She walked forward with Hinata trailing behind quickly.

Tsunade approached Anko first.

Anko turned toward the pair with a mischievous grin. "What's up Lady Tsunade?"

"How are they doing, Anko?"

"Oh, they're getting better. I'm still having them work on smaller exercises to get them used to their powers before I move on to the other stuff. So far, they're not too bad. A little shaky, but not bad."

"That's good. I'd like you to meet someone. Anko, this is Hinata. She's our last deity."

Anko eyed the young girl curiously before breaking out into a wider grin. "Hinata, eh? The name's Anko and I'll be instructing you on power control. By the way, what is your power?"

"U-Um…I-I can h-heal things…" Hinata didn't know why, but the woman in front of her was downright intimidating and a little weird.

Anko stared back at the matriarch. "A healer, huh?"

"That's right. So far she's only had experience with healing plants, animals, and a little experience with healing a human cut. She does it wonderfully, but I can tell that she's putting too much energy into it, so it drains her quickly."

Anko nodded understandably. "We'll have to work on that then." She inhaled and glanced toward the group of girls. "All right girls! We're done for the day!" she yelled out. "Come on over here! There's somebody you need to meet!"

Now, Hinata was nervous beyond belief. She inched closer to Tsunade and clenched onto her outfit tightly. Tsunade gazed down at her and with a comforting smile, she patted the girl's head. "Don't worry, Hinata. No need to feel nervous, they're nice girls."

Despite that, Hinata still stayed close to the older woman.

Once the other little girls came over, they immediately noticed the dark-haired girl trying to hide behind Tsunade. "Who's that?" The young blonde called out curiously.

"This," Tsunade began nudging Hinata closer toward the girls. "Is Hinata. She's a deity and will be joining you four from here on out, so be nice."

The girls didn't reply and only stared analytically at the new girl. The older blonde was the first to step forward with a grin that resembled Anko's. "I'm Temari." She glanced over her shoulder at the other girls. "Well? What are you all waiting for? Get over here and tell her your names."

The others quickly scurried forward and smiled warmly at Hinata. The brunette was the next to speak. "My name is Tenten."

"I'm Sakura, it's nice to meet you, Hinata."

"And you can call me Ino."

Hinata smiled politely at each one of them telling them how nice it was to meet them all. Once the introductions were finished, Tsunade had the girls take Hinata with them to lunch. And, of course, they did so without complaint. Having a quiet girl seemed to be something quite new for the four other deities; it was refreshing so to speak.

* * *

The five deities sat at their assigned table, waiting for their meals to be brought out to them. The rest of the tables in the grand dining room were also filled with many of the people the matriarch had pointed out to Hinata earlier. At this point, Hinata only glanced at the other people before focusing all of her attention on the girls at her table.

Hinata sat in-between Temari and Tenten with Sakura and Ino sitting across from her. There was a brief moment of silence before Temari yawned loudly and stared at the small girl next to her. "So, Hinata, how old are you?"

Hinata opened her mouth to reply, but Ino beat her to the punch. "She's six like Sakura and me."

Sakura glared at her blonde friend. "Geez, Ino! Maybe we should just ask you all the questions since you obviously don't want her to speak for herself!"

Ino just stuck her tongue out at her pink-haired friend.

Hinata, unlike the others, sat their confused.

"Anyway," Temari began again. "As for our ages, Tenten is seven and I'm nine." With a smug smirk she continued. "I'm the oldest."

Tenten turned to face Hinata and tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. "So, what power do you have?"

Once again, Ino answered before Hinata could. "She's a healer."

"Would you let her answer for herself?" Temari exploded in annoyance at the younger blonde.

Ino merely shrugged with a knowing smirk on her face, but that soon changed to inquisitive when she met Hinata's confused gaze. "Oh." she laughed. "Sorry, Lady Tsunade didn't tell you about our powers, did she?"

Hinata merely shook her head.

"Well," Ino began. "My power is telepathy."

"W-What's that?" Hinata asked shyly.

Ino smiled. "I can read other people's minds. It's pretty cool."

Inwardly, Hinata realized why she was able to know about her age and power so easily without Hinata even mentioning it prior to their first meeting.

Sakura piped up after Ino with just as much excitement. "For my power, I'm really strong! I can lift things that normal people can't even try to. I'm way super strong!"

Hinata giggled at her enthusiasm and turned to Tenten.

Tenten smiled widely too. "I'm able to make weapons out of anything. I just imagine what I want to make and it happens. It's awesome."

Temari leaned forward on her elbows and made her smirk more apparent. "Yeah, yeah, but my power is way better. I can control the wind and air."

"R-Really?" Hinata asked in awe and remembered back to what she saw Temari doing in the courtyard.

"Yup! It takes a lot of hard work to control, though. I've been practicing for years."

Hinata expressed a small smile and was about to engage in another conversation with the girls before an eruption of laughter deriving from the guardian table filled the air. Looking around, Hinata noticed that nobody else was looking over there like her table was. She supposed they must've been used to it or something.

Nonetheless, the loud laughter coming from a few young boys forced Hinata's attention to look over. Seeing Hinata's curious gaze, Sakura leaned forward on the table while Ino turned halfway around in her chair to glare at the boys. "Oh, by the way," Sakura began and pointed over to the table of nine boys. "Those are the boys who are training to be in the security force."

Hinata nodded. "Lady Tsunade t-told me about them."

"She did?" Sakura looked surprised.

"Yes. She said that some are t-training to be in s-security…and the others a-are training to b-be our guardians."

At that, all the girls except for Temari snapped their attention to face Hinata in complete shock. Ino's eyes were wide and a huge smile graced her features. "Our guardians? Seriously?"

Hinata nodded again. "Th-That's what Lady Tsunade told me…"

"No way!" Sakura was just as excited as Ino. Now the two girls turned all the way around in their seats to stare intensely at the group of boys. Even Tenten was more attracted to the boys' table.

Temari leaned toward Hinata as if she was going to whisper in her ear. "You probably shouldn't have told them that."

Hinata tilted her head in confusion. "Why not? Was it a s-secret?"

Temari laughed. "No, not really. I mean, I knew about it, but the other girls didn't…and for good reason too. They're really boy crazy." She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"S-So…h-how did you f-find out?"

"Huh? Oh, from my brothers. They told me about it."

"Y-Your brothers?"

"Uh-huh." Temari eyed the boys' table and pointed out the oldest brunette and the sole redhead of the group. "The older one is my brother Kankuro, and the younger one is Gaara." She laughed again, pointing out the blonde boy who was laughing the hardest. "And that's Naruto. I've known him for a long time, so he's pretty much a brother too." She glanced back to Hinata seeing the questions in her eyes, so she attempted to clarify. "You see, me and my brothers met up with Naruto before we came here to Konoha. We four were the first ones around our age to arrive here at the temple." She paused then and her lips tightened into a thin line. "Even though Gaara and Naruto are different from the rest…I know they're working really hard to become what they wanna be."

Now Hinata was even more confused. "W-What do you m-mean, Temari?"

Temari's serious face dropped and her usual smile returned. "Oh, nothing. I'll tell you later."

Hinata lowered her gaze to the table surface in understanding. It was at that time that the servers entered and began distributing the meals to each and every person in the room. Before Hinata could dig into her meal, Tenten leaned over to her. "Hey Hinata, are you related to Neji?"

Hinata stared back at her. "Um…no."

"Really? Are you sure?"

"I don't think so. Who's N-Neji?"

Tenten pointed out one of the boys sitting next to a boy clad in green. From what Hinata observed, he did resemble a Hyuga what with the white eyes and long hair, but she had never seen him before. "So, are you?"

"U-Uh…"

Ino piped up. "She's not. She doesn't even know who he is." She sighed. "Geez, just because you and Kiba have brown eyes doesn't mean you're related, right?"

"Yeah, but brown, blue, and green eyes are pretty common." Tenten retorted. "White eyes aren't."

Ino shrugged indifferently. "Whatever."

While the girls bickered more, Hinata kept her gaze on the boy named Neji. She nearly gasped when he turned his gaze to her and furrowed his brows as if trying to figure out who she was. Hinata blushed and started eating her food, hoping he wasn't watching her anymore.

Halfway through the meal, a young boy named Kiba leaned toward the boy named Naruto on his right. With a nudge, he grasped his attention and stealthily pointed to the only dark-haired girl at the deity table. "Hey, Naruto, who do ya think that is?"

"Wha—Who?" Naruto followed to where Kiba was pointing and noticed a girl he had never seen before. "Huh…I dunno. Ya think she's another one of them?"

Kiba shrugged. "Probably. Hey…" he smiled deviously. "She's kinda cute."

Naruto laughed. "Yeah, but she's not prettier than Sakura!"

Across from the boys, the young Shikamaru scoffed. "Geez, Naruto. You've been saying that since she first came here."

Next to Shikamaru, Choji chuckled. "Shikamaru's right. You have a huge crush on her, but it's not like she knows or anything."

Naruto blushed. "And she won't! I'll be the one to tell her, so you all need to keep your mouths shut or I'll beat you all to a pulp!"

"Yeah, yeah…" they all waved off his threat simultaneously.

Suddenly, Kiba stood up and leaned forward on the table, directing his gaze toward the deities' table. He cupped his hands around his mouth and hollered as audibly as he could to get their attention. "Hey! New girl! What's your name?"

All the girls immediately looked over only to notice that all the boys at the table were now staring inquiringly at Hinata. And this only caused for the timid girl to blush a few dark shades of scarlet and shrink into herself to draw less attention.

Knowing that her newest friend didn't want to answer, Ino stood up as if challenging Kiba. "Her name's Hinata and leave her alone, Kiba!"

"What? It's not like I'm hurting her!"

"I know that, stupid! You're just making her nervous so shut up!"

"You first!"

Ino growled and clenched her fists in anger.

Naruto stood up next to Kiba as if to back up his friend. "Hey, stop yelling at Kiba! He didn't do anything wrong!"

Temari peeked at Hinata's now cherry red face and stood up as well. "Naruto! Stay out of this and sit down!"

Naruto folded his arms over his chest in defiance. "Make me…mom!"

Temari scrunched her face up in anger. She hated when her brothers called her "mom". "That's it! You want me to make you, then I'll make you!"

"Do it then if you're not chicken!"

"I'll blow you away!"

"Yeah right!"

Temari frowned and inhaled deeply. One second later she exhaled just as deeply and blew forcefully toward Naruto's direction. The action didn't seem that significant, but proved otherwise when a gust of wind knocked Kiba and Naruto off their chairs and onto the floor. Temari smirked in accomplishment.

Hinata looked on and couldn't repress the giggle that escaped her lips. The rest of the girls looked back at her blankly before breaking out into solid laughter as well. Before the laughter died down, Hinata glanced back at the table only to see Neji staring emotionlessly at her. Hinata stopped laughing, but a smile was present on her soft features. Seeing this, Neji smirked and returned to talking with the boys around him.

"Alright, that's enough!" Tsunade interrupted. "Finish eating and only talk to people at your own table. Got that Kiba and Naruto?"

The two boys grumbled under their breaths and situated themselves back into their chairs.

* * *

**End of Chapter Two. Please Review.**


	4. Harp

**Author Note: **Thanks for the reviews!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**[Edited]**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter III**

**Harp**

* * *

**Demon: An evil spirit; a source or agent of evil, harm, distress, or ruin.**

* * *

_"But, the bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it."_

_-Thucydides_

* * *

Six-year-old Hinata waited patiently in the matriarch's office. Tsunade had told her the day before to meet her in her office as soon as she woke up. Hinata had no problem with this, but she was getting bored since Tsunade wasn't even there. With a sigh, Hinata stood up from her chair and walked around the room.

Her eyes strayed between different artifacts and paintings, but one object caught her attention almost immediately. Off in one of the corners of the room was a small instrument. If Hinata remembered correctly, it was a harp. Her mother had told her about different types of instruments, but the harp wasn't very common in Konoha. In fact, this was the first time Hinata had ever seen one up close. To her, pictures did not do it justice. The small harp was absolutely beautiful and intricately designed in white gold.

"So, you like the harp huh?" Tsunade entered the room, closing the door behind her.

Hinata jumped slightly at being surprised, but steadied herself to give Tsunade a smile and a nod.

Tsunade smiled and walked over to stand next to Hinata. "That was given to me decades ago, but I really have no use for it. Nobody in this village even knows how to play it."

Hinata gazed at Tsunade looking almost pleading.

The matriarch saw this and laughed lightly. "Do you know how to play, Hinata?"

"Um, no, but…" she stared longingly at the instrument.

"If you want, I can give this to you." She saw Hinata's face turn hopeful. "But on one condition," she smiled wider. "You'll have to learn how to play it."

Hinata smiled gleefully. "I will. Thank you Lady Tsunade."

"Sure, sure." She waved it off. "It's no problem. After all, the other girls have stuff like that to do as a hobby. Sakura is learning how to play the violin and Ino plays the flute. Tenten and Temari don't play instruments, but they do dance. It's entertaining to watch them, and will be nice to watch when they master those abilities." Tsunade inhaled and exhaled deeply. "Anyway, I called you in here so I can escort you to your first day as a deity. Shall we?"

Hinata nodded and followed the matriarch out of the office.

* * *

**One year later…**

Tsunade nearly ran toward the medical ward upon hearing that her presence was needed. She arrived and entered a room, where she saw Shizune and Jiraiya along with Asuma, Kakashi, and Gai. "What's going on?" she asked, closing the door behind her. Before anyone answered, Tsunade finally took notice of the small body lying underneath the covers on the hospital bed. It was a young boy, who looked unconscious.

Shizune stepped forward. "A few merchants traveling back to Konoha saw this boy passed out somewhere on the side of the road. They brought him to us, and…well…we found out that he's…a half-demon."

Tsunade glanced between the boy and everyone in the room with a serious gaze. "A half-demon huh?" she sighed. "I guess that brings up our total of half-demons to three." Another disheartened sigh. "And they're all the same age it looks like. Have you gathered any information on him?"

"From my knowledge," Kakashi spoke up. "The merchants asked the boy and he said his name is Sasuke. He came from a village not too far from here, but the village itself has been destroyed, and he seems to be the only survivor."

"The village was destroyed?" she asked incredulously.

Jiraiya folded his arms over his chest. "My guess would be another demon attack. It appears that the demons are now massacring whole villages rather than just demon hunters."

"Hmmm…" Tsunade rubbed her temples in frustration. "Alright. We'll keep him here, but I want a 24-hour surveillance on him. As young as he may be, he still has demon blood in him, and that alone can't be trustworthy. Kakashi?" she waited until he acknowledged her before continuing. "I'd like you to be the one to watch over him. Anything suspicious comes up, you alert me or Jiraiya immediately, understood?"

"Of course, Lady Tsunade."

"Good." She gazed once more at the dark-haired boy. "We'll have to get more answers out of him when he awakens."

"Lady Tsunade," Kakashi halted her from leaving. "If I may have a word with you and Lord Jiraiya?"

Tsunade regarded the young man for a moment before exchanging a serious glance with the Patriarch. They nodded to each other and waited until the others left the room before they began their discussion with Kakashi.

Once the door was closed and secure, Kakashi looked sternly at his superiors. "Well, Kakashi? What's the problem?" the lady asked.

Kakashi faced the unconscious boy and lowered his gaze. "There is something else about this boy that you need to know."

"What is it?" Jiraiya asked.

"His last name is Uchiha."

They were quiet for a moment before recognition brightened their features. "You mean…" Tsunade began motioning toward Kakashi's hidden eye.

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed. "Uchiha. Any relation to Itachi?"

Kakashi turned his attention to them. "Other than resembling Itachi physically, I'm not entirely sure. And the fact that this Sasuke is also a half-demon makes me quite curious as to how closely he's related to Itachi."

Tsunade crossed her arms over her chest. "If I remember correctly, Itachi was the notorious demon who you got in a fierce fight with awhile ago…and lost one of your eyes because of it…am I right?"

Kakashi nodded solemnly. "As much as I hate to admit it, I barely escaped with my life. That was the one and only time I ever retreated from a fight, and…I have no doubt that the only reason he let me go was because he considered me a waste of time." his tone held a strong sense of bitterness. The masked man sighed in order to calm himself before beginning again. "I have a theory that Itachi had something to do with destroying this boy's village. If my theory is on the mark, then…he must be close to Konoha since the boy's village was also close to Konoha."

Knowing exactly what Kakashi was hinting at, the two elders looked at each other. Tsunade was the first to speak. "Very well. In that case, I will have to speak with the village leader and inform him of this predicament. We'll need to make sure that anyone coming to or leaving the village will be aware of the possible danger lurking just outside our walls."

Jiraiya nodded in agreement. "That's a good idea. I'll go get a hold of him and arrange a meeting, hopefully soon." He paused and they all stared at the dark-haired sleeping boy. "As for now, I suggest we let the poor boy sleep and question him later."

* * *

"Alright girls, take a seat so we can begin." Kurenai instructed and waited for the five girls to sit down before beginning her lesson.

There was one row of five desks with each one being filled. Starting from the left sat Tenten, Temari, Hinata, Ino, and Sakura.

Seeing that they were all seated, Kurenai sat in a chair facing the small group of deities. "Okay, today's lesson will be short since we're only going over one subject. But I feel that this subject is vitally important, so you all better pay attention." She gave them all stern looks before continuing. "Today we will be talking about demons. Now, who can tell me what a demon is?"

Sakura raised her hand immediately.

"Sakura?"

Sakura smiled smugly and lowered her hand. "A demon is a type of evil creature that exists here in the world. They can look differently, but most demons resemble humans, so it's hard for anyone to really tell whether the person is a demon or a human."

"Good." Kurenai smiled. "And is there a way to tell if they are in fact a demon?"

Sakura raised her hand again, but Temari blurted out the answer. "Yeah. They say that demons have potent blood, but humans can't really detect that, so they look at their eyes." Temari paused to yawn. "A demon's eye color is never normal-looking…like yellow or red…"

"That's true…" Kurenai muttered. "Anything else?"

Sakura waved her arm in the air frantically.

Kurenai sighed. "Go ahead, Sakura."

Sakura smiled once again. "Demons have markings on one of their wrists to signify whether they're a demon or not. They say that demons are born with that marking so it's kind of like a birthmark, but black colored."

"Right again." Kurenai lounged back in her chair. "Now, the reason why I'm going over this with you is because I want you all to be prepared should you ever have the misfortune of meeting a demon. They are dangerous and very powerful." Kurenai warned while at the same time trying not to scare them. "It has been proven on more than one occasion just how brutal they really are. They have destroyed entire nations and left no one alive. It is their way, just as it is some hunters' way to seek out the demons and kill them. But, you shouldn't feel worried about that. As you may already know, Konoha is well protected from demons. There's an invisible barrier around the entire village to keep demons away. That barrier has been there since the goddess lived here."

Tenten leaned forward in interest. "Well, how do you know that the barrier is still up?"

Kurenai opened her mouth to answer, but Ino answered knowingly. "Because they've seen demons try to invade Konoha, but failed. Right, Miss Kurenai?"

Kurenai gave Ino a scolding look. "You really should try to learn like the rest of the girls instead of just reading our minds, Ino."

Ino smiled and shrugged.

"On another note," Kurenai began again. "There are also…individuals out there known as half-demons." She noticed Temari frown for an instant before appearing bored again. "Now, half-demons are exactly as the name suggests. They are half demon and half human. This occurs when a demon and a human…reproduce. The child is given some demon powers, but the bloodlust does not run so deep in them. They still have human nature after all."

Temari grunted inaudibly in agreement. "So, it's stupid when others try to treat them like monsters when they aren't."

The rest of the girls along with Kurenai stared at Temari. While the girls were confused, Kurenai nodded her head sadly. "That is also true."

Ino grumbled and crossed her arms in front of her. "That's not fair, Temari! You can't just block me out of your mind! I wanna know!"

"It's none of your business, Ino." Temari retorted, feeling accomplished that she was able to learn how to block Ino from her thoughts. The other girls didn't know how to do it, but she could tell they now wanted to learn. Temari had to remind herself to thank Anko later for teaching her that nifty trick.

"Okay, ladies. That's enough." Kurenai interjected. "Actually, I think that's enough for today. Head out to the courtyard and Miss Anko should be there waiting for you."

With that dismissal, the girls quickly got out of their seats and ran toward the courtyard to begin their power control class.

* * *

Once lunch had finished, the deities were given free time to go do whatever they wished. As for Hinata, she decided to go out to the gardens, which was dubbed as her favorite place. As was her routine now, she walked around the garden, admiring all the flowers and their own individual beauty. If any of the flowers were beginning to wilt, Hinata would delicately heal them back to their beautiful splendor.

After a half-hour or so, Hinata decided to walk along the edge of the towering wall, where many trees and bushes tried to hide the wall from her sight. Near one of the tall trees, Hinata sat down and reclined back onto the soft grass. With her eyes staring up into the cloudless sky, she jumped at feeling something scurry over her feet. Looking around frantically, she finally spotted what it was.

There was a small squirrel running around the trees and through the various bushes near the wall. Hinata watched it with fascination as it found a nut and began scurrying toward one bush in particular. Always being the curious one, Hinata followed it, hoping to see where it had gone off.

She knelt near the tall bush and pushed aside most of the leaves and branches, looking around for the squirrel. She searched for a long while only to come up empty-handed. It was like the squirrel vanished. But even though she couldn't find it, something else caught her eye. The further she pushed herself through the large bush, the clearer she was able to see a rather medium-sized hole in the thick wall. The hole wasn't gigantic, but it was large enough to fit a petite woman through, so if Hinata were to go through, it'd be too easy.

At first, Hinata was about ready to back out, knowing that beyond the walls of Konoha was a dangerous world. However, Hinata also wondered what that world looked like. Couldn't even dangerous worlds be beautiful at some parts? Being the optimist she was, Hinata nodded her approval and crawled further in until she was crawling through the hole itself. It took her awhile to get through it fully, and she pulled away with a few scrapes on her arms and legs, as well as her outfit being ripped at certain places, but nothing too bad. The scrapes were easily healed, but she had to remind herself to sneak back into the mansion and change before anyone else noticed.

Pushing those thoughts out of her mind, Hinata stood erect and gazed around her to see what the walled-in Konoha probably wouldn't have ever let her see. Unfortunately, it wasn't as beautiful as Hinata was hoping it'd be. Instead, a large dense forest greeted her with shadows lurking everywhere despite it being a sunny afternoon. She was about ready to turn back until her curiosity once again overrode those feelings and urged her forward into the dark unknown forest. For some odd reason, she felt as though she was being called there. It was like there was something within that scary forest that Hinata needed to see. Without anymore hesitation, Hinata strode forward into the trees with an audible gulp being the only noise infiltrating her ears.

To put it simply, Hinata was scared. The forest looked dark and foreboding on the outside, but on the inside it was ten times worse. Strangely, it was colder and there were shadows everywhere she turned. She was beginning to think that there was no sunlight peeking in whatsoever. Nonetheless, Hinata trudged on while memorizing her surroundings in order to get back.

In the midst of looking around her while walking, Hinata failed to notice the overgrown tree root sticking out of the ground in front of her, causing her to trip and fly forward a small distance. She whimpered, feeling the sting on her palms and knees and even a small scrape on her cheek. Frowning pitifully, she slowly stood back up only to notice that she had stumbled into a large clearing.

The clearing itself could be summed up in one word: Desolate. It was completely barren of life other than the trees that surrounded it in a complete circle. Every step she made, she could hear the ground underneath her crunch from the dead plants, and it disheartened her. She had never seen so much symbolic and literal death in one place before.

Hinata's innocent face formed into a pout as she knelt down with a determined expression. She closed her eyes and focused her energy just as Anko had taught her recently. With her hands pressed firmly onto the hard ground, she slowly released consistent amounts of energy into the ground, forcing it to circulate throughout the entire clearing.

Feeling slightly exhausted, Hinata opened her eyes and retracted her hands from the ground. What she saw greatly pleased her, allowing her to feel quite accomplished, for the once desolate clearing was currently overflowing with life. Flowers of every type and color littered the ground, turning the clearing into a meadow. Hinata was joyful.

That is…until she realized that she wasn't alone in the meadow. In fact, if she had looked around earlier, she would've noticed the unconscious figure reclining against a tree on the edge of the clearing. Hinata's wide eyes focused on the figure, which looked as though the person was dead.

With a gulp, Hinata walked slowly toward the figure with her fingers gripping onto her dress tightly. She'd be lying through her teeth if she said that she wasn't scared, but concerned for a fellow human being wasn't so far off the mark.

After what seemed like forever, the dark-haired girl was now crouching down near the man in order to take a good look at him. He didn't look old at all, but he wasn't as young as her either. In fact, he looked younger than the three security men Lady Tsunade had introduced to her a year ago. His long dark hair was tied back in a low ponytail, and he adorned a black hooded cape. The front part of his cape was open slightly, revealing his black pants and a sleeveless leather top that reminded her vaguely of thin armor. Being this close, she was finally able to see that he wasn't dead…just asleep.

What made her gasp, though, was what his hands were clasped over. Both his hands were resting protectively over a large wound on his stomach with blood seeping through his fingers. Her face became more worried when she also noticed another deep wound in the left part of his chest right around the location of his heart. Hinata wasn't a doctor, but she didn't need to be in order to catch on that his shallow breaths were proof that he was barely alive.

Now, Hinata didn't have very much experience with healing people, but there was no hesitance in her when she leaned forward with the clear intention to help this man live. With a gentleness that only Hinata contained, she lifted his hands from his stomach wound and rested them down at his sides. Her hands hovered above his wound while taking quick glances at his face, his chest wound, his arms, his hands…the mindfully familiar marking on his right wrist…Her body froze in shock and realization.

Marking on the wrist…Hinata remembered learning about that earlier on that day. Sakura had said something about black birthmarks on a wrist usually means that it's a…demon. Wide-eyed Hinata gazed into the expressionless face of the man before her only to come to the actualization that this "man" was actually a full blooded demon.

Thus, she landed herself into a very difficult situation. Her mind was screaming at her to get up and run back to the safety of the temple like her life depended on it. Her heart, on the other hand, was insisting that she help save the demon's life. Hinata's gaze fell down to her lap as she debated over the issue. Run back home or save a life—demon or otherwise?

A quiet groan forced her attention back onto the young demon in front of her. He hadn't awakened yet, but it wasn't hard to see that he was in pain although he was hiding it well. Gulping once again, that one groan made the decision for her. Demon or not, Hinata wasn't going to just let someone die…not when she had the sole ability to change that.

The young girl hovered her hands over his stomach wound once again and focused sternly on what she had to do. This time, her eyes weren't closed, but they were set on the bloody injury just below her hands. For the first time since she had discovered her unique powers, Hinata watched as her hands glowed in a soft green light and transferred into the wound itself. Slowly, the wound began to heal as if it had never been there in the first place.

Unlike plants and animals, healing an actual person proved to be quite exhausting. Hinata could immediately feel her body start to weaken, but she willed herself to stay strong since she still had one more deep wound to go. Therefore, once she finished with his stomach injury, she moved onto his more threatening injury just above his heart. There was no indecisiveness in Hinata's attitude as she at once began healing the deep gash. Despite her body feeling like it wanted to collapse, Hinata's willpower alone kept her steady and concentrated on the task at hand. No…she wasn't going to let him die. The possibility that the demon would just kill her once he came around entered her mind, but she pushed it away for her to dwell on later.

Her vision was blurring and she was beginning to fade in and out of darkness. In all honesty, she had never felt so tired before. It was becoming increasingly difficult to steady her wavering body and not crash onto the ground. With every last bit of strength she had, she forced her eyes open long enough to see that she had successfully healed his wound. With a relieved smile, her arms fell limply by her sides and her eyes shut just before her body toppled over onto the ground. As she lay there on her side with sleep just around the corner, she was able to welcome that sleep when she could hear the calm and stable breathing originating from the young demon next to her.

* * *

The young-looking demon awoke with a surprising start and immediately took notice of the trees around him. His memory returned quickly, reminding him how he had gotten to where he was and why he was there in the first place. He knew he had massacred an entire village save for one little boy—his half-brother, he reluctantly admitted. The boy was supposed to die, but the rest of the village and his father died instead. The fight with his father was gruesome, but he came out as the one alive, though injured very badly. He also knew that he had run into a group of demon hunters shortly afterwards. Normally, demon hunters were of no concern, but he had already used a good deal of his energy before they arrived.

Thus, with his already serious injuries he was weakened, but still managed to slaughter the hunters in a few swift moves. The only downside to the whole situation was that he was near death, and another group of demon hunters was currently tracking him down. Where they were exactly, he wasn't sure at the moment, but he would find out.

Just as he had turned to gaze around him, he had first caught sight of how different the clearing looked. When he had collapsed there earlier, it was utterly dead. Now, it was bursting with life. He was disgusted with the large abundance of perfumed flowers.

With a snarl, he then took notice of a small body lying not too far from him. Despite his face revealing no emotion whatsoever, he was inwardly interested. The girl was small, pale, fragile-looking, and claimed the most intriguing color of hair he had ever seen. Itachi was no stranger to the typical black, brown, blonde, and red hair colors, but hers was more of a blue-black or indigo even.

Pushing that irrelevant thought aside, he crouched down over her with his elbows resting lazily on his knees. His blood-red eyes stared intensely at her sleeping form as if he was studying a new species. And to him, she was a new species. He grunted. _I was beginning to think that deities were going to become a mere legend, but here one is, and not too long after the last ones died. She's a very young one as well. _He leaned back on his heels and gazed down at his chest and stomach, where he knew he once had fatal injuries. His fingers traced over where the wounds used to be, and realized that the young deity must've been the one to heal them. This only further enhanced his interest. _Perhaps she was not aware that she healed a demon. She probably assumed I was just another insignificant mortal. _He snorted in repulsion. "Pathetic human…" just as he was mumbling his current thoughts, his head shot up and he sniffed the air searchingly.

Only a second later, his lips curved into a smirk and he stood up with the little girl still sleeping at his feet. _So, they've finally caught up to me. _Itachi turned around and watched as a total of five men, carrying various weapons, entered into the clearing. Each of their eyes was dead set on their enemy, who was still smirking maliciously.

"Demon!" one of the men—demon hunters—called out raising the tip of his sword in Itachi's direction. "You have slaughtered our comrades! Prepare to meet your end!"

Itachi's smirk disappeared to be replaced by his nearly permanent stoic expression. "You are not worth my time. Go back and bury your dead."

"Is that a threat, demon?" the man hissed.

"No…a suggestion. It'd be wiser to do that than stay here and die pointlessly. I have already killed many humans today, and I wouldn't really mind killing a few more. However, seeing as I am in a fair mood, I am giving you a chance to run away with your lives still in tact…" his eyes narrowed mockingly. "After all, isn't that what all of you pathetic humans do?"

Each of the individual hunters growled in anger and tightened their grips on their weapons. It stopped when one of the men noticed the small body lying just behind the demon's feet. His eyes widened in horror. "That little girl…you monster! What kind of a bastard would murder an innocent child!"

Itachi didn't glance behind him to know whom he was talking about. Apparently, they thought the young deity was dead. "A heartless one I'd imagine. Nonetheless, I _am _a demon, and killing an innocent has never bothered me once."

While most of the men were in heated anger, a smaller skinny man nudged the one who might've been the leader. "Sir? That blood we found back in the forest…you said that it was demon's blood. You said that this demon was injured, but he doesn't look it at all."

The leader frowned and analyzed the demon in front of him. He was beginning to doubt his instincts until he noticed two large rips in the demon's leather armor with blood staining the area around it. "No…he was injured…" he scowled darkly. "But somehow the damn creature managed to heal quicker than I could've imagined possible."

Even though it didn't show, Itachi was growing quite bored with the insignificant demon hunters before him. "If you're going to attack me, then attack me. If you're going to run away, then do it already. Either way, make your decision now or I will make it for you…and believe me, you will not like my decision."

The group of men stared at the demon for a few minutes before the leader spoke up loudly. "Men, let us rid the world of this demon's existence and get revenge for our lost comrades! Attack now!"

Itachi shook his head and released an inaudible sigh. _Brainless morons…_The tip of a sword was lunged toward his face only for Itachi to step to the side easily. His hand moved in a blur to wrap around the sword's blade and broke it off as easily as snapping a twig. Before the man could so much as widen his eyes in astonishment, Itachi had thrown the broken-off blade, forcing it to stab into the man's forehead killing him instantly.

In the time that it took the man to fall to the ground dead, Itachi had disappeared and reappeared in the middle of the rest of the demon hunters.

--

Screams and gasps of pain were the sounds that awoke Hinata from her deep slumber. Her eyelids stayed tightly shut while the rest of her body began to move in order to awake her further. She let out a quiet groan and finally opened her eyes. At first, her mind was completely occupied with trying to remember what had happened last. Her attempts quickly ended when she sat up and took in the sight a few feet in front of her. With a terrified gaze, she stared on as she watched the familiar demon standing in the middle of a blood bath. There were men lying awkwardly at his feet with their eyes wide open in frozen fear and blood splotching every inch of their bodies. The fact that they were motionless forced Hinata to believe that they really were dead…or killed to be precise.

Actually, there was still one man alive, but it didn't look like that would last long. He was kneeling before Itachi with his hands pushing hard against his own head. She would've imagined that his eyes would be closed from all the obvious pain, but they were open and locked onto the demon above him.

The man was screaming in a way Hinata had never heard before. It was blood curdling and caused her to feel waves upon waves of terror. The strange thing was, was that the demon was just standing there not even touching the man…just looking at him intensely. Or at least, she assumed he was. All she could see from her angle was his back.

As the screams grew hoarse and more gruesome, Hinata found herself shaking in fear. She hunched over, closing her eyes and covering her ears with her hands in a sad attempt to drown out the piercing screams. "Please…stop…" she whispered into the wind.

Itachi, with his impeccable demonic hearing, managed to hear the soft whisper. His blood-red eyes closed, ending the torture. When he opened them again, the man had collapsed onto the ground to join the rest of his dead comrades. "Hn." He grunted carelessly, and turned around to see the little girl hunched over with her eyes closed and hands clasped over her ears protectively. Seeing her position, he snorted in disgust and walked over until he was standing just in front of her. "Pathetic."

At hearing his deep voice so close, Hinata's eyes snapped open and she looked up fearfully, directing her gaze onto the demon's dark red eyes. She gulped and pulled her knees up to her chest as a form of protecting herself.

Itachi disregarded her obvious fear, and crouched down in front of her with most of his weight resting on his heels. His arms once again lay lazily on his knees, and his eyes stared intensely into her white eyes. _White eyes? That's unusual. A white-eyed human…that's something I've never encountered before. This little girl is not like the other humans. _"Your name, deity." He demanded coldly.

Hinata bit her lip and tried to calm herself down before answering. "U-U-Uh…I…it's…" she gulped again. "H-H-Hinata…"

"Are you scared, Hinata?" he questioned even though his questions only sounded like statements.

She defiantly shook her head.

"Liar. I can smell fear emanating from every pore in your weak little body."

She flinched and turned her gaze onto the flowers below her. "A-Are y-you going to k-kill me now…?"

"Hmmm…is that an invitation?" a tempting smirk dominated his features.

Her eyes met his once again and she shook her head more fervently. "N-No…please don't…"

"Hn." He stood up, returning his face to looking impassive. "You need not worry. If there's one thing I hate more than humans, it's the fact that I might owe something to one of them. So…in return for saving my life I will spare yours. Although…" he paused and smirked diabolically. "Should we meet again, I can not guarantee your safety."

The young Hinata stared blankly for a moment before nodding in understanding.

"Good." He turned around silently and began to walk toward the forest.

"Um…" her quiet voice made him stop and wait for her to say what she wanted to. Normally, he would just keep walking, but for some reason he wanted to hear her speak. "Um, uh…" Hinata stood up and clasped her hands in front of her. "M-May I ask y-your name?"

The demon remained still as a statue, but once again started walking toward the dense forest. And just before he had entered completely, he murmured his answer. "Itachi Uchiha." And then he was gone.

* * *

**End of Chapter Three. Thank you for reading! Please review!**


	5. Innocence

**Author's Note: **This chapter doesn't have Itachi in it, but it deals with Hinata and the relationships she begins to form with the other children at the temple. I felt that there needed to be a good foundation for all the children before I started straight into the ItaHina stuff. I love character development and giving background stories to characters that have a slightly different background in the actual anime. Because this is an AU, building that foundation and providing vital details is essential to the remainder of the story line. Don't worry, though! Despite Itachi not being in this one, he will definitely be in the next one, and it won't be just a small part either! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**[Edited]**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter IV**

**Innocence**

* * *

_"A smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring, sharing person inside."_

_-Denis Waitley_

"_Deep down even the most hardened criminal is starving for the same thing that motivates the innocent baby: Love and acceptance."_

_-Lily Fairchilde_

* * *

Hinata ran as fast as her little legs would carry her. As soon as the demon left her sight, she had run back into the forest, heading toward the safety of Konoha…the safety of the temple. At last, she could see the hole in the wall and, without stopping, immediately began crawling through, earning her more scrapes than before.

A few minutes passed before she made it all the way through the thick wall and directly into the large bush. Pushing her way through, she finally made it out. However, just as she was getting ready to stand up, a few shadows loomed over her. "Are you alright?" one of the shadows asked with a tone of skepticism.

Hinata froze and looked up warily to see four boys standing in front of her. She recognized the boys from awhile ago, but she never really talked to them. If she remembered correctly, the one who spoke was named Neji, and the three boys around him were Naruto, Kiba, and Shino. All four of them gave her the same inquisitive gaze.

"U-Um…"

"What were you doing?" Naruto asked, noticing all her scratches and clothing rips. "Crawling through the bushes?"

Hinata blushed and tapped her forefingers together nervously. She attempted to speak, but ended up just nodding bashfully.

Kiba and Naruto laughed good-naturedly. Kiba knelt down in front of her with a wide smile on his face. "Why were you doing that when there are more fun things to do?"

"Yeah!" Naruto hollered, running over to the nearest tree. "Like climbing trees!"

Hinata watched as Kiba joined him, and both boys began climbing the tree at a pace that she would never be able to accomplish. Even so, she ended up giggling at their antics.

"You wanna try?" Naruto called from atop a low branch.

"Um…"

"Do not push her to do something she doesn't want to do." The quiet one named Shino reprimanded.

"Um…" Hinata muttered. "I-I wouldn't mind."

"All right!" Both wild boys shouted in delight. "Finally a girl who will actually play right!"

Hinata smiled warmly, but hesitated when a hand was held out to her. She followed her gaze past the hand and arm to the face of the softly smiling Neji. She smiled again and accepted his help to stand up. When she was standing up again, she noticed that he hadn't released her hand yet. When she looked to him questioningly, he only smirked lightly. "I'm Neji Hyuga." He introduced, knowing they never properly met.

"I-I'm H-Hinata Hyuga."

He furrowed his brows at hearing that they shared the same last name. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted when Kiba and Naruto jumped down from the tree, grabbed both of her hands and led her toward the tree, which they were supposed to climb.

When they were busy with the tree climbing, Shino stepped over to stand next to the white-eyed boy. "Are you related?"

"No…I don't think so. Maybe…I'm really not sure."

Shino nodded. "Hmmm…" he paused, noticing how Kiba and Naruto were both helping Hinata climb the tree with smiles on all their faces. "I think they've found a new friend."

Neji grunted. "Looks like it."

--

Awhile later, Hinata left the boys shortly to go change and get cleaned up before heading back out again. This time, she noticed that all the boys were outside playing. In the distance, she could see Kiba and Naruto enthralled in a game of tag with most of the other boys. She was about to go over and join them, but someone else appeared in front of her. "Hinata," Neji greeted and glanced over at a nearby bench. "I wanna talk to you."

"Um, okay." She agreed and followed him to go sit down on the bench.

They sat in silence for a bit until Neji broke it. "We're not related, are we?"

She glanced at him blankly. "I-I'm not sure."

Neji nodded and looked deep in thought. "What's your father's name?"

"Hiashi…What's your f-father's name?"

"Hizashi." He answered. "But your father's name doesn't sound familiar. Did he have any brothers?"

"No…h-he was an only child…I think."

"Yeah…so was mine. What about your grandfather's name?"

Hinata scrunched her face up trying to remember. "Um…Hideki."

Neji laughed. "Mine was named Hiroki. I'm starting to think that if we are related…we might be like distant cousins or something."

Hinata smiled. "P-Probably…"

"After all…we do have the same eyes and last name."

"Th-That's true."

There was silence as the two watched the boys run around playing various games. Only then did they start to notice that the other deities started to come out. Temari was the first one out with Tenten right next to her. Behind them walked Ino and Sakura. They walked a few steps before stopping and looking around in an obvious search. Hinata tilted her head as she watched them curiously.

Ino was the first one to spot Hinata and broke out into a huge grin while attracting the other girls' attention. "Hinata!" she yelled and waved her arm frantically.

Hinata smiled shyly and waved back. "H-Hello Ino."

Temari smiled and approached the two Hyugas with her hands on her childish hips. "We were looking for you, Hina."

Tenten was about to say something, but then her gaze turned to the boy sitting next to Hinata and her cheeks burned red. She looked away, trying to calm herself down.

Knowing exactly what was going on with Tenten, Ino was seen snickering to herself. Sakura, on the other hand, didn't pay the two girls any attention and smiled curiously at Hinata and Neji. "Where have you been, Hinata? We were gonna play our instruments in front of Lady Tsunade, but we couldn't find you anywhere."

"Oh…" Hinata touched her finger to her lip and pouted slightly. "I-I'm sorry, Sakura."

Sakura and Temari giggled and ran to Hinata giving her a joint hug. Temari laughed more soundly. "You're so cute, Hinata. I've always wanted a little sister like you!"

Sakura nodded fervently as they released the timid girl from their death grip. "She's right, you know. We really do think of you as our little sister now."

Hinata blushed and smiled happily. "I'm g-glad…"

Before any of them could say more, a few of the other boys called out to them. A few invitations to play were shouted out, and the deities ran off toward the boys while Hinata stayed seated next to Neji.

Glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, she jumped in surprise at seeing him staring right back at her with a small smile on his face. Hinata blushed more heavily and averted her gaze bashfully.

Neji laughed lightly and scooted closer to her. "You know," he leaned over so he could look at her reddened face. "You're pretty cute."

Hinata looked shocked for a second before muttering in embarrassment. "Um, th-thank you…"

Neji only laughed again and leaned back, allowing his gaze to focus on the bright sky above him. "So…Hinata,"

"Y-Yes…Neji?" she turned to face him even though he wasn't looking at her.

"You've been here for awhile, right?"

"Um, f-for a year now."

He nodded. "How'd you get here?"

"How?" she repeated.

He faced her again and gave her a half-smile. "Yeah, how did you get here? Did you just walk here? Or were you dropped off? Did you come from some other village?"

Hinata stifled her giggle at his flow of questions. When he finally paused, she answered. "My daddy and mama dropped me off."

Neji's cheerful face drooped slightly. "Oh…really?"

"Yes," Hinata too looked elsewhere solemnly. "Mama said she didn't want to leave me, but daddy said that I would be p-protected here."

The corner of Neji's mouth quirked upward slightly, but his eyes remained sympathetic.

Hinata turned to him then with a carefree smile decorating her guileless features. "When did you get here, Neji?"

His eyes averted from hers so that he was now gazing at the grass below his feet. "Three years ago."

"Oh, did your daddy drop you off too?" She inquired sincerely.

After a short moment, the boy finally shook his head slowly. "Not really. Me and my father were traveling around a lot 'cause he was a merchant who sold stuff to other villages. Three years ago, he got really, really sick. He told me that he couldn't take care of me anymore 'cause he wasn't gonna be alive for much longer."

Hinata was no longer looking at him with a glint of happiness in her eyes; instead, she could only occasionally glance at him in sympathy.

Neji continued while plucking a few loose strings on the hem of his shorts. "So, he asked another merchant we were traveling with if he could take me to the nearest village and find someone who could take care of me. We ended up coming to Konoha, and the merchant brought me here to Lord Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade. They've been taking care of me and I've been living here since then."

"What about your mama?" Hinata couldn't help but ask.

Neji shrugged. "I never knew my mother. Dad said she died when I was just a baby, so I don't remember her."

"Oh…I'm…" Hinata murmured quietly as she timidly reached for his hand to hold. After giving his hand a gentle squeeze, which caused Neji to turn his gaze to her again, she furrowed her brows and pouted her lips slightly. "I'm sorry, Neji."

His small smile reappeared on his face and he returned her handhold. "Don't be sorry, Hinata. I'm okay now. I have friends and people who care about me, so I'm not really sad about it anymore."

Hinata smiled again while tilting her head to the side in a cute gesture. "I'm glad."

Neji suddenly inched forward and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek before quickly standing up with her hand still in his. "Thanks, Hinata."

Instead of saying anything in return, she was still sitting there with a dazed look on her face as her cheeks became inflamed while her other hand brushed over her kissed cheek.

With a delicate laugh, Neji nudged her towards him. "Come on, Hinata. Let's go join the others."

"Um, o-okay…" She mumbled in a whisper as she let Neji lead her towards the grassy field where the rest of the children were playing happily.

Kiba was the first one to spot the two Hyugas, and waved over to them. All the boys and deities crowded around Kiba and Naruto, waiting for the Hyugas to get closer so Naruto could say what he wanted to.

Once Neji and Hinata were apart of the small circle, Kiba began with a large grin on his face. "Okay, here's what we're gonna play. It's called Protect the Princess!"

The little boy in the green suit was the first to speak up. "I have not heard of this game before."

The oldest boy there named Kankuro snorted loudly. "That's because it doesn't exist. They made it up."

"Yeah," Shikamaru yawned and stretched his arms behind his head. "Can't we just play something everybody knows?"

"Not to mention, Naruto…" Gaara spoke up quietly. "It sounds like a little girl game."

Naruto pouted. "It is not a girl game, Gaara! We made it up so the girls can play since they _never _play with us."

"Hn,"

A larger boy smiled at the two boys in the center and asked with curiosity. "So, what is 'Protect the Princess' anyway?"

"Well, Choji," Naruto spoke up with a sly grin. "It's actually really easy. We split up into two teams, and each team has a princess that they have to protect!"

Tenten folded her arms over her chest and raised a brow. "What is she supposed to be protected from?"

"The other team, duh!" Naruto stared at her stupidly.

Sakura furrowed her brows. "I don't get it. Are we attacking each other, or something?"

Ino sighed. "No, it's not like that. They want to play with those balls that Master Kakashi and Master Gai made for us. Then, they're gonna throw the balls at the other team, and if it hits someone then that person is out."

"Hey!" Kiba shouted. "We're supposed to explain it! How did you know?"

"You idiots! I can read minds, 'member?"

Kiba groaned to himself before Naruto spoke up again. "So, we basically have to make sure the princess doesn't get hit or we lose."

Temari stared analytically at the two boys before an idea came to her. "You know…that would be too easy and boring if it was just like that, where you get hit and you're out. I think there should be other rules so you can get back into the game or something. Like, I don't know…"

Kankuro, seeing where his sister was going with it, brightened at his own idea. "I got it! If you catch the ball that's thrown at you, then the person who threw it gets out instead!"

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "That sounds hard…"

Temari glowered at him. "Just do it, okay? It'll be fun."

"Fine, fine."

Kiba stepped forward. "Okay, we need to pick teams now!"

"There needs to be two team captains." Kankuro began. "And there has to be at least two girls on each team, even though one team will have three."

"I sure hope it won't be my team." Kiba grumbled under his breath.

"No kidding." Shikamaru agreed quietly. "It'll be too troublesome."

Not seeming to have heard what his two friends were talking about, Naruto's eyes glazed over to match his dreamy smile. "I hope I get to be on Sakura's team…"

Temari sighed. "Oh boy. Okay, listen up, everybody! I'll pick the two captains and then we'll separate into teams!" She paused and scanned the large group of kids before smiling in satisfaction at her choice. "The two team captains will be…Neji and Kankuro."

The two boys exchanged short glares before taking their places in front of the group and staring analytically at each child there.

Finally, Neji smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. "Okay, I'll go first."

Kankuro snapped his attention to the boy next to him. "What? How do you get to go first?"

"Because I said I would." He replied coolly. "You were just too slow."

Kankuro growled derisively under his breath, but didn't object to Neji taking first pick, and Neji's first pick was something no one expected.

Neji's eyes looked over the group until he settled on one pair, to which he delivered a soft smile. "I want Hinata on my team."

The white-eyed girl was shocked and glanced around her to see if it was really her name that was chosen. Eventually, she had to be playfully nudged by Temari and Sakura just to get her to walk over to Neji's side. When she was there, she stared at him incredulously. "Why did you choose me?"

Neji smiled secretly to her. "I didn't want Kankuro to choose you, so I chose you first. Plus, I want you to be on my team so I can protect you."

"But…"

Neji glanced around him before placing his hands on her shoulders and whispering to her with intensity. "I like you, Hinata. Let me protect you, please?"

Her childish brows furrowed in confusion. "Protect me from what?"

This time, he smiled slyly as if remembering something quite entertaining. "We boys can get kinda rough when we play. That's why the girls never wanted to play with us until now. We don't mean to, but we forget sometimes how hard we throw the balls, so I don't want you to get hurt, okay?"

Hinata smiled and nodded shyly. "Okay, Neji."

Kankuro scratched his young chin as he surveyed the group, until he finally decided on a few people he really wanted on his team. The first was someone he had to spar against a lot when they were training. "I choose Shino."

Before the quiet boy even finished walking over there, Hinata caught Temari looking at her eagerly while pointing to herself. Catching on to what Temari was implying, Hinata leaned close to Neji, who looked like he was about to pick somebody else, and tugged on his shirt sleeve. He looked over at her curiously and raised a brow without asking what she wanted. She licked her lips daintily before whispering. "Neji, could we have Temari on our team, please?"

Finding it hard to resist her wide-eyed, pleading expression, Neji reluctantly nodded. "Temari,"

The older blonde girl flung her fist into the air as a way of gaining victory before running over to her timid friend and pulling her into a tight embrace. "Thanks, Hina. Now that I'm on your team, I'll make sure nothing happens to you."

Hinata's own eyes widened in fear as she placed a small finger over her lip. "Does everybody really play that rough?"

Without having to think about his next pick, Kankuro pointed out into the group. "Let's go, Kiba."

The dog lover grinned and laughed as he ran over to his team.

As young as Neji was, despite whom he _wanted_ to choose, he knew whom he _needed_ to choose. He wasn't a naïve boy; when it came to his studies and training, he was actually quite the genius. Putting his genius mind to work, he knew what Kankuro's next pick would be, so Neji took advantage of being the first to pick and choose. Therefore, he smirked in victory. "I pick…Gaara."

Kankuro's face fell in disappointment, and he glared over at Neji while the little redhead made his way over to his new team, along with his sister and the two Hyugas. Sighing deeply to himself, Kankuro rethought his next pick carefully. He was almost about to pick Naruto, but his sister called out to him quickly.

"You know, Kankuro," Temari laughed. "You do have to pick a girl sometime. At least two to each team, remember?"

The older brunette groaned, realizing that his sister was right. Reluctantly, he looked over the last three girls and chose the one who he knew would actually benefit his team. "I pick Sakura, then."

The pink-haired girl smiled and walked over to join her team, even though she was secretly hoping to get to be on Temari and Hinata's team instead.

"There! Happy?" Kankuro pouted at his sister, who only laughed at him in return.

Feeling satisfied that Temari was on his team, Neji decided to take who he assumed was Kankuro's next wise pick. "Get over here, Naruto."

Despite how happy he was to be chosen, Naruto sighed dejectedly since he wasn't going to be on his beloved Sakura's team. Forgetting that, he was also thrilled that he was going to be on the same team with his buddy, Gaara.

Trying to remember whom else Kankuro had worked with during training, he chose his next teammate based on that. "I choose Choji."

Neji nodded. "Shikamaru."

Another sigh from Kankuro since he was being pestered by Sakura. "Ino."

At last, Neji was able to choose a good, but annoying, friend of his. "Come on, Lee."

"Finally! My youthful friend has chosen me!"

Kankuro raised a brow at the remaining person. "I guess that leaves Tenten with us." Remembering how athletic the bun-haired girl was, Kankuro smiled over to Neji. "Your loss, Hyuga."

"Whatever, let's just play already."

"Okay," Naruto held up a finger. "But we have to pick our princess first!"

With that, each team gathered together and looked over their choices for princess. Kankuro and his team decided Ino would be best suited for the position since she said she didn't want to actually _play _the game in the first place.

It was no surprise when Neji and his team chose Hinata as the princess instead of Temari. Hinata thought it was because she wouldn't be of any use, but the others simply told her that they would prefer to protect her, since Neji and Temari would've been keeping an eye on her anyway. The other boys agreed—Lee with more enthusiasm at getting the chance to protect a princess. Naruto seemed excited too and promised Hinata that she wouldn't get hurt whatsoever. Gaara merely nodded to her as his assurance that he would keep an eye on her, while Shikamaru just yawned in boredom.

Temari looked over to see Neji talking with Hinata and Shikamaru, as well as the others. Seeing that as a chance for distraction, she pulled Gaara and Naruto off to the side and whispered to them. "Look, guys, we're going to be using our powers and skills in this game, but…"

Gaara nodded, obviously catching on. "We'll stay under control."

"Huh?" Naruto scratched the back of his head before it finally dawned on him. "Oh, right." He glanced down at the ground solemnly. "Don't worry about us, Tem. I don't want to hurt my friends, so I won't release any power or anything."

"I know, but…" Temari stepped closer to them. "Sometimes you guys get too much into these games, and you don't realize when you're losing control, so I just want to make sure—"

"We get it." Gaara interrupted. "Trust us. We'll make sure we're in control the entire time. If we lose even a little bit of control, we'll stop the game and go get Master Kakashi."

Temari nodded before hugging her brother and her blonde considerable "brother" tightly to her. "You two will be fine. I trust you."

Naruto began to grumble once he was released from the embrace. "Although, it's not fair that we don't get to use any of our powers when everybody else can."

"Naruto," Temari hissed warningly.

He laughed nervously while waving his hands in front of him. "Just joking, Tem!"

"Yeah, you better be."

"Temari!" Lee called out to her. "We are going to start! Come on!"

"We're coming!"

--

For a game between a bunch of kids no older than ten, "Protect the Princess" had become fairly intense. Balls were being thrown between both sides of the yard, between the teams, and being caught once in awhile. It was either dodge, catch, or be hit, and nobody wanted to get hit with those type of balls. Since the balls were made of sewn together leather with a woven bamboo inner layer to keep its shape, the actual impact of a fiercely thrown ball would give quite the stinging sensation.

Twenty minutes into the game, and there were players already out for being hit. While Choji could deliver a strong throw, he wasn't quick on his feet, which resulted in him sitting on the sidelines, holding a sore stomach. Shikamaru followed Choji, sporting a forming bruise on his head, but he wasn't complaining much since he didn't find the game too amusing to play in the first place. However, sitting next to his best friend, he found slight amusement in watching the competitive intensity of the other players.

On Neji's team, Hinata was surrounded by Neji, Temari, and Naruto, who all protected her greatly. Every ball thrown their way was dodged effortlessly, leaving Hinata safe for moments at a time. Meanwhile, Gaara and Lee joined forces as the primary ones throwing the balls with speed and strength not common to normal little boys. Also, with Temari's added help, any balls that couldn't be dodged at the last minute were sent away by her forceful wind.

However, Kankuro's team wasn't left with a disadvantage. Tenten threw with accuracy and Sakura's abnormal strength sent the balls flying at equally abnormal speeds. Shino and Kiba were given the roles of protecting Ino, while Kankuro led the other two girls with their offense. Kiba was quick and Shino was a strategist, but Ino was proving to be more of an asset than any of the boys imagined. Besides Temari, Neji, and Gaara, the young blonde was able to easily read the minds of the opposing players and warn her own team of what they were going to do before it happened. Never before had any of the boys had so much fun playing with the girls. Who knew they could actually be competitive?

--

The game increased in its intensity when Gaara threw a ball at Sakura, resulting in the pink-haired deity to join the other two boys on the sidelines. Kiba dodged Lee's thrown ball—thanks to Ino—but wasn't fast enough to catch or dodge the ball thrown by Naruto. The young, rough brunette was hit on his arm, forcing him to trudge over to the "out" section. Listening to Ino's advice, Shino was able to plan out his throw perfectly, catching the green-clothed Lee off guard, knocking him out of the game. Tenten and Temari were the next ones to go when they both caught each other's balls, resulting in a double knockout. Being momentarily distracted by his wind-ruling teammate getting out, Naruto didn't throw his ball with enough strength, which allowed for Kankuro to catch it with a sly grin on his features.

Naruto grumbled and pouted as he made his way off the playing field. This also left the teams evenly matched; it became three on three. With a silent agreement between the two boys, Neji stayed back to guard Hinata, while Gaara moved up front to take the offensive position. Likewise, Shino continued his role of protecting Ino, while Kankuro moved to stand a good distance in front of his younger brother. Both brothers held balls in their hands, while the remaining balls lay scattered on the ground around them. Neji and Shino watched carefully, not letting their eyes miss anything for the sake of risking anything hitting their "princesses".

On the sidelines, even the usually bored Shikamaru was found sitting closer and watching with utmost interest at the nearing to the end of the game. They all knew that the next few moves were crucial and would decide the winner. It was only a matter of time.

All too suddenly, Kankuro threw his ball, beginning the end of the game.

--

From afar and watching behind the glass windows of the temple, Tsunade stood next to Jiraiya with the caretakers and security men watching through other windows at the game that the children were playing.

Kakashi, Asuma, and Gai were at one window, while Tsunade and Jiraiya claimed their own. Shizune, Kurenai, and Anko shared a window just like the others, and they were very entertained by the goings on of what was happening outside. Small smiles played on their faces at just how much their child's game was far from what normal children played; or, at least _how _normal children played. Some of the hits the children were getting would send an average adult villager flying, and would be later left with a good count of broken bones. That was proof that any child who lived at the Divine Temple was human, but not normal by any standards. They were each definitely unique.

"Hey, Lady Tsunade," Anko spoke up, breaking the amusing silence between the adults.

"What is it?" The blonde replied without taking her eyes away from the ongoing ball-throwing between the six children.

Anko watched for a moment as Kankuro hurled a ball directly at Neji, making the Hyuga boy unintentionally separate from Hinata. "Are those boys done with their training yet?"

Tsunade's expression didn't change. "Why don't you ask the patriarch instead of me."

"Oh, right." She knocked herself on the head with a sheepish smile. "Lord Jiraiya?"

The older man stayed silent for a moment as he watched Kankuro dodge one of Gaara's thrown balls, only to throw one at the vulnerable Hinata. Neji was too far to run to her, but she was saved at the last minute by Gaara, who raced toward her and tackled her gently to the ground. Neji took that opportunity to grab a ball and aim towards Shino and Ino. Jiraiya cleared his throat. "Their training is far from over. They'll be training for years before it's officially over. Yet, there's no doubt that they will never truly stop their training; they'll only stop being trained by someone older than them."

"So…" Anko raised a brow. "They won't enter into their work field until they're like—what—Kakashi's age?"

"I didn't say that." Jiraiya crossed his arms over his broad chest and leaned against the window seal. "All I said was that they'll be training for awhile, even after they've decided what to do as work here at the temple."

Anko nodded and turned back to the game at hand. By then, Gaara was back up front and Neji was guarding Hinata with a determined ferocity marring his features. As young as he was, it almost appeared like Neji was out for revenge because he was separated from Hinata, since it was his job in the game to protect her. As for Kankuro, he was tossing a ball in his hand while smirking slyly. Shino was expressionless as he stood in front of Ino, who was looking frustrated at not being able to read Gaara and Neji's minds. "So…" Anko began again. "Did you guys already find out what the boys want to do?"

Asuma sighed. "Do you mean whether they want to be guardians or part of the security force?"

"Well, yeah. What else would I be referring to?"

Asuma rolled his eyes, but it was Kakashi who answered calmly. "We asked the boys that question a few days ago. Most of them wanted to become part of the security force with us three." A barely noticeable uplift in his lips appeared. "Although, I have a feeling that after today, that opinion might change."

"Oh, yeah?" Kurenai spoke up curiously. "Why do you say that?"

Asuma chuckled. "Take a look, Kurenai. I think that's the first time the boys and the deities are playing together…civilly."

"Not to mention," Gai spoke up, somewhat seriously. "I've been training Neji since he got here, and…that's the most emotion I've ever seen him express so far."

"That's great and all, but…" Tsunade paused and glanced at Jiraiya. "Did you ever figure out if Neji and Hinata are related or not?"

"I did some research like you asked." Jiraiya began. "You had good intentions—wanting them to feel like they had family here at the temple. However, the only relation they have would be very distant cousins. There are a lot of Hyugas in this country, so any chance of them being closely related wouldn't have been too great."

"Okay…" The matriarch sighed. "So, what's their relation then?"

Jiraiya chuckled. "Looking at their genealogy…they're either ninth or tenth cousins."

She raised a brow. "I'm not going to ask how you figured that out, but I'll trust you. That hardly makes them related at all."

Kakashi was drawn back to the game in time to see Shino get hit. Kankuro threw a ball towards Hinata once again, only for Neji to block her with his body, causing the ball to impact with his back. The gray-haired man smirked beneath his mask. "Somehow…I don't think he'll mind that they're not related."

--

Kankuro jumped up in joy after successfully getting Neji out of the game. Gaara and Hinata both watched Neji reluctantly leave the playing field. The red head glanced back to Hinata, who he was supposed to protect at all costs or their team would lose. Even though it was a game, it was the first time Gaara ever had to protect someone…and he wasn't going to take that opportunity lightly. He spun a ball between his hands and glared at his brother.

"You're going down, little brother." Kankuro smirked again and readied his ball to be thrown…but not at Gaara.

Ino's eyes widened as she saw the quickly thrown ball heading straight for her timid friend. She knew the collision would hurt the girl, and turned her head to avoid looking.

Because of that, she missed when Gaara ran in front of Hinata, blocking the incoming ball with his own. Seeing Kankuro in shock, Gaara took his opportunity to finally throw his ball with speed and accuracy only someone of his "kind" contained.

A scream emitted into the air as Ino fell back on the ground after being hit.

The game was over. Gaara's team had won. Kankuro was angrily disappointed.

--

Tsunade nodded before turning on her heel to leave. Before she left, she glanced back to the patriarch. "Ask the boys tomorrow what they plan on doing, whether it be guardian or security force. Once that's decided, I think we should assign the guardians to their deities."

"Got it."

"Tell me the results once you have them."

"Of course."

"Oh, and one more thing," Tsunade eyed Kakashi with a stern expression. "Kakashi…Come to my office tonight. Jiraiya and I need to have a talk with you concerning that Sasuke kid."

"Understood, Lady Tsunade."

The blonde sighed. "Alright, their playtime is over. Get them back into their studies, and they'll be allowed to have another break after lunch."

The caretakers nodded their assent with a respectful, "Yes, Lady Tsunade."

--

"Does it still hurt, Ino?" Hinata questioned worriedly, while keeping her hands hovering over Ino's shoulder. The familiar green light glowed underneath her palms.

Ino smiled and laughed lightly. "Not anymore. Thanks, Hina. Now, I won't have to worry about a big, ugly bruise."

Hinata giggled delightfully.

Sakura and Tenten ran over with the pink-haired girl's hands holding the part of her body that was hit. "Hey, Hinata! I'm next, right?" Sakura asked.

Shikamaru strolled up from behind them with his hand rubbing his forehead. "If she can heal and take away the pain, I'm next. I'm getting a troublesome headache."

A loud and derisive snort came from Temari, who stood off to the side, arms folded over her chest, and disgust written in her eyes. "You guys are pathetic. Learn to deal with a little pain, will ya? If you can't deal with it, you shouldn't have played in the first place, dummies!"

"Speak for yourself!" Naruto interjected with a pout. "You didn't get hit like some of us did!"

"You didn't get hit, Naruto."

He pouted his lips stubbornly. "Yeah, I did. Sakura punched me in the arm when she saw that her team lost."

Temari simply rolled her eyes before wrapping her small hand around Hinata's equally small arm, and dragging her away from the group. "Come on, Hinata. Don't waste your time on these babies."

"B-But…I want to heal…them…"

The older blonde girl glanced back at her with a raised brow. "You need to learn to say no, instead of letting them walk all over you."

"I-I don't mind…" Hinata bowed her head shyly.

Another eye roll from Temari before she sighed heavily. "Looks like I'll just have to teach you how to say 'no' more. Stick with me, and these guys will be scared of you in no time!"

Hinata's eyes widened uncertainly. "I…I don't want that…"

She laughed in reply. "Don't worry—it's fun!"

Their short conversation was cut off when Anko, Kurenai, Kakashi, Asuma, and Gai came out onto the field. Asuma was the first to speak and holler to the boys. "Alright, boys, let's go. It's back to training with you all."

A few moans and groans were heard, as well as a few excited exclamations.

Anko, taking Asuma's lead, waved over to the girls. "Time to go for you girls too! Go with Kurenai since it's study time!"

The girls, repressing their sighs of disappointment, nodded and followed after the red-eyed woman.

Keeping his eyes on Hinata as she walked away with the group of deities, Neji released a small smile before turning on his heel and running to catch up with the rest of the boys.

* * *

**That's it for that chapter. I'll start working on the next chapter as soon as I can. Please review!**


	6. Uchiha

**Author Note: **Please read the ending note. Thank you to all who reviewed! I really appreciate it!

**Also! **Just in case any of you forgot, the kids are mostly seven years old. Only Neji, Tenten, and Lee are 8, Kankuro is 9, and Temari is 10.

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter V**

**Uchiha**

* * *

"_Man…cannot learn to forget, but hangs on the past: however far or fast he runs, that chain runs with him."_

_-Friedrich Nietzsche_

* * *

"Come in." Tsunade hollered after hearing a short knock on her office door. While she sat at her desk, Jiraiya leaned against a wall near her, and both turned their attention to their visitors.

Kakashi walked through the doorway and closed it behind him afterwards. Only then did the matriarch and patriarch take notice of the dark-haired little boy standing next to the silver-haired man. Kakashi bowed to them politely. "Lady Tsunade, Lord Jiraiya."

Tsunade stood and motioned to the two available seats in front of her desk. "We've been waiting for you, Kakashi. Why don't you two take a seat and we'll get started."

"Of course." He replied curtly and seated himself down in one of the chairs, while watching the boy take the seat next to him. Glancing back to his leaders, his face became serious at once. "I came with Sasuke as you have requested."

"Good." She sighed heavily and looked over the young boy. His black hair matched his equally black eyes, and his face was more expressionless than a little boy's face ought to be. However, after hearing about the tragedy that befell the boy, Tsunade felt he had reason for hiding his emotions so expertly. "Sasuke, I'm sure Kakashi has already informed you about where you are and so on, but what I want to know is…what happened to you and your village."

Sasuke merely rolled his eyes and averted his gaze elsewhere. "Why don't you just ask _him_?" He motioned to Kakashi.

Containing her rapidly building anger at the boy's attitude, Tsunade reluctantly turned her attention back to Kakashi and raised an impatient brow.

The man simply sighed before beginning. "The only answers I got from Sasuke was that he was there when his village was destroyed. Also, he knows very well that he's a half-demon, and that's because both his human mother and demon father raised him. His father is a name you should recognize too. Fugaku Uchiha." He paused shortly and gripped Sasuke's left wrist, to which the boy scowled hatefully at him for. "As if that isn't proof enough Sasuke has relations to Itachi, then this is."

Tsunade and Jiraiya both widened their eyes in disbelief at the tattooed marking embedded into the skin on Sasuke's wrist. It was like a branding. "Is that what I think it is?" Tsunade murmured.

Jiraiya nodded. "An ownership claiming. In other words, this little boy has received a demon mark. Each demon's marking is different, of course; it's much like a seal that only pertains to the blood within that demon. And there's no doubt about it…That's Itachi's seal."

"Why would he seal him? Why keep him alive and no one else?" Tsunade questioned confusedly.

Kakashi shrugged. "Sasuke won't give me any details, other than his father fought and died protecting him from Itachi, who just happens to be his half-brother."

"That close in relation, huh?" Jiraiya muttered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Kakashi glanced at Sasuke out of the corner of his eye, only to notice the growing scowl marring the young boy's features.

Ignoring how the boy was acting, Tsunade leaned froward on her desk to stare straight at him. "Sasuke, did you tell Kakashi anything else?"

Without even looking at the blonde woman, Sasuke answered stoically. "Why are you asking me?"

Her jaw tightened as her eyes narrowed, but before she even opened her mouth, Kakashi spoke up calmly. "That's pretty much it, Lady Tsunade. He's a boy of few words, and I didn't want to push him into telling his life story until he'd be comfortable with it."

"That's a tactic that will work most of the time, but not with this one." Tsunade replied sharply. "Sasuke, I need you to cooperate with me and answer a few questions."

He folded his childish arms over his chest and glared in boredom at the older woman. "Why should I? I don't even know you. The only ones I know in this stupid place is that guy," he jerked a thumb towards Kakashi. "And that crazy doctor lady."

_Crazy doctor lady? _Tsunade inwardly thought in confusion before it hit her. "Oh…You mean Shizune."

"Whatever."

Jiraiya chuckled to himself. "You know, the boy's got a point, Tsunade. I'd be a little hesitant talking about something like that with complete strangers, too."

The woman leaned back in her chair, folding her arms under her large bust before glaring over at the patriarch. "Well, forgive me for forgetting that the last time we saw him was when he first arrived here unconscious…" Her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. "Idiot…"

The older man chuckled in amusement before walking up to the boy and kneeling down in front of him, so they were eye-level. "Sorry about that, kid. You'll have to excuse the old lady—"

"Old?" Tsunade exclaimed angrily, standing up from her chair.

Ignoring the matriarch behind him, Jiraiya continued. "She gets a bit moody sometimes, but you get used to it."

"Moody!" She slammed her hands onto her desktop, causing various papers to drop from the edges onto the floor. "You want to see moody? I'll show you moody!"

Once again, acting as unfazed as ever, Jiraiya smiled kindly to the boy. "I'm Lord Jiraiya and Big Boobs back there is Lady Tsunade. We—"

Not allowing him to even come close to finishing his sentence, Tsunade delivered a swift and harsh punch to the side of Jiraiya's face, causing the older man to slam against the nearest wall with a loud thud and a painful groan. Breathing heavily, Tsunade stared down at Sasuke before placing her fists on her hips. "We run this place…Me more than him…obviously."

Kakashi sighed and leaned over to Sasuke before whispering. "Don't mind them. They act like this all the time; it's great entertainment sometimes, actually."

Sasuke only raised a brow, but inwardly, he began to have a great fear of this blonde woman before him. After all, he was not used to women like her. His mother was always kind and gentle to him, and never rose her voice; she was a calming person in his life. This woman, this Lady Tsunade was downright intimidating. It took every ounce of self-restraint he had as a seven-year-old to not show any of his inner fear of Tsunade in front of them.

"Now that we're introduced," Tsunade appeared completely calm again, as if nothing ever happened. She didn't speak again until she was sitting at her desk. "Let's continue."

A few more groans were heard from Jiraiya as he made his way to standing up and taking a seat on an abandoned wooden chair off to Sasuke's right.

Eyeing the young boy a few feet from her, Tsunade licked her lips before speaking. "Tell me, Sasuke. Kakashi said that you were not only raised by your human mother, but by your demon father as well. Surely, despite being as young as you are, you understand how unusual that is."

He shrugged. "I don't know. My village seemed okay with it. They actually liked him."

"I see," She brushed her fingers against her mouth in contemplation. "Was your father around since you were born?"

Mixed emotions flickered in his onyx eyes and his teeth gritted together before he inhaled deeply and faced away from them. "Why should I tell _you_?"

Jiraiya, seeing Tsunade working herself up again for another fit of rage, stepped in. "We just want to know what happened. If your father was there, and he seemed like he actually cared about you and your mother, then how was your village destroyed? Don't you think he could've fought off Itachi and won?"

Sasuke bowed his head and an unmistakable sadness overwhelmed his eyes. "No…My brother is too strong…"

Tsunade exchanged a quick glance with the patriarch before turning back to Sasuke. "Do you know why Itachi spared you and gave you that mark?"

Sasuke still wasn't looking up as if he was remembering everything that had happened that night. Judging by his expression, it obviously wasn't a good memory.

While Sasuke was staying silent, Kakashi intervened and averted the leaders' attention to himself. "Lady Tsunade, Lord Jiraiya…As you know, I've had experience with demons in the past—"

"We were demon hunters once upon a time, too, Kakashi. Asuma, Gai, and Anko were as well." Jiraiya interrupted. "Believe me, we've all had our experiences."

"I know and understand that, but," Kakashi leaned back and sighed deeply. "What I'm trying to say is that I had a lot of experience when it came to ownership claims and seals, like the one Sasuke has. The only way to get rid of it, of course, is to kill the demon who claimed you."

"Yes, that's right. We know that." Tsunade nodded, gesturing for him to get to the point.

Appearing unfazed, the gray-haired man didn't deter from his explanation. "In the past—you should know this as well—the claiming seal was used to place on weaker demons or humans as a way for them to be protected from more powerful beings than them. However, nowadays…that's not the case."

"What do you mean?"

"Lady Tsunade, I believe that the seal given to Sasuke…was a marking so other demons would know to not severely harm this boy. And the reason…?" Kakashi looked at the shadowed face of Sasuke. "So that whenever Itachi wished, he could find Sasuke…and kill him."

There was a long moment of silence before Jiraiya emitted a deep noise within his throat. "Hmm…Cruel and twisted. Definitely sounds like Itachi."

Sasuke suddenly slammed his fist against his knee. "That's why I have to find him and kill him before he does that to me!"

Tsunade attempted to speak to the boy, but was interrupted before any sound could escape her mouth.

Sasuke stood and glared heatedly at the three adults in the room. "I can't stay here. I have to go and find him. I'm wasting time!"

Jiraiya smirked knowingly. "And what are you going to do when you find Itachi? Kill him?" He laughed shortly. "You won't stand a chance against someone like Itachi. If your father was killed by him, then so will you."

"I'm a half-demon and my father trained me! In a few years, I'll be able to beat him and get him back for what he did to my family and village."

"And you're going to do that on your own, are you?" Kakashi humored the boy. "Just live out in the forest, tracking him down, training yourself…?"

Sasuke only glared at Kakashi before nodding once.

"You won't get very far." Tsunade shook her head.

"It's better than staying here. I'd only get weaker." He snarled derisively and crossed his arms again. "In a few years, I'll be stronger than all those other boys combined."

Tsunade glanced at Kakashi, realizing that the gray-haired man definitely told Sasuke a lot about the temple, especially the boys in training. Inhaling and exhaling deeply, Tsunade buried her face in her hands in thought and frustration. Making contact with Sasuke again, she smirked mischievously. "So, you think you're one tough cookie, huh?" She snorted. "I'll make a bet with you."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, not paying attention to the eye-rolling that the other two men expressed.

"Here she goes again…" Jiraiya muttered under his breath.

Tsunade leaned forward on her elbows, smirk still present. "I'll have you fight against one of those boys that you were told about. If you win, we'll let you leave Konoha to go in search of your brother, no questions asked. However, if you lose…" Her smirk widened in amusement. "You have to stay and live here in the temple. You will train alongside the other boys and be cooperative with the masters and us. We'll show you how to gain true strength to defeat such a demon as Itachi Uchiha."

Sasuke grunted. "Okay, but don't get mad when you lose that bet."

Tsunade stood. "I'll have someone go get your room ready."

"Don't bother. It's not like I could actually lose against one of those morons."

"I guess we'll see, won't we?"

Jiraiya and Kakashi stared at each other before shaking their heads.

* * *

"Man…!" Naruto whined as he stretched his arm over his head, matching the movements of the other boys around him. "I wonder where Master Kakashi is. He hasn't been around since like…forever!"

Shikamaru yawned as he bent over to touch his toes. "He's only been gone for a couple days, Naruto."

"Yeah, but why?" Naruto stopped his movements to stare at Shikamaru. "What's more important than training us?"

Kiba rolled his eyes. "He's a grown-up, so he's allowed to do what he wants."

Naruto huffed as Gaara made his way over to the blonde boy. With that strange rustic voice of his—even at seven years old—he regarded Naruto coolly. "Lady Tsunade and Lord Jiraiya probably had something for him to do."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Naruto waved his hand in the air. "Whatever. He better finish it fast 'cause he said he was gonna teach me a new move!"

"All right, boys!" Asuma shouted out to them. "That's enough stretching. Gai will take over for the warm-ups."

The man in green seemed to leap towards them with a blinding smile on his face. He stuck his thumb up with his other hand fisting on his hip. "Okay, team! I want twenty laps around the courtyard, and be youthful about it!" He didn't seem to hear the moans and groans of complaint coming from most of the boys. "All righty and…go!"

Despite whether they wanted to or not, the group of young boys began running or jogging around the edges of the courtyard, keeping track of what lap they were on.

A faint sound of instruments filtered through the air, originating from an open window not too far from the location of the boys. A violin was made known by the sound of every string being played at different tones in a rather slow motion. Afterward, the wind-whispered sound of the flute filled the air as every note was played in a certain succession.

Neji knew who played those instruments, for it wasn't the first time any of the residents of the temple heard it. He knew the pink-haired girl played the violin, while the younger blonde played the flute. Everyday, they would be in that room practicing different songs and whatnot. Although, what he perked his ears up for was the instrument that was going to be played next.

As soon as the flute trailed off, another instrument, a more calming and soothing instrument began to play. Strings were being plucked, emitting an undeniably heavenly sound. It was something so delicate, yet strong. It was the harp, and he knew that it was Hinata who was playing it.

Hinata…the only person there who he actually felt strangely comfortable with. He didn't quite understand how, but there was such an innocent kindness in her eyes that he had never seen before, and it intrigued him. What was even more intriguing was how he was able to freely tell her about what happened to his father, even though they had only just started talking. Even though he was young and—granted—naïve, he couldn't help feeling that he was connected to Hinata somehow, someway.

Oh well…It's not like he really minded.

* * *

Hinata cringed as she plucked the wrong strings during a certain section of the song she was learning. The other girls stopped their playing and turned back to her questioningly. Temari and Tenten stopped their dancing as well and approached the three instrumentalists. Temari wiped her forehead clean of sweat before regarding the timid girl with kindness. "Still having problems with that part, huh?"

"I'm sorry." Hinata murmured dejectedly. "I'll get it next time, I promise."

"You said that the last two times, Hina." Ino groaned in frustration.

Sakura, too, was beginning to get tired of having to play the same song so many times. "We told you, Hinata. Just listen to how Ino and I play the song and then just copy it. We both have string instruments, so it shouldn't be that hard."

"I-I'm sorry…"

"Stop apologizing to them, Hinata." Temari scolded lightly.

"Yeah, seriously." Tenten shook her head in disappointment at the two younger girls. "Look, Hinata's doing the best she can, okay? She wanted to play the harp, which is something no one in Konoha knows how to play. You guys were taught by tutors, but Hina has to learn it on her own."

Temari nodded in agreement. "She's getting most of the song right. It's just that part, so give her a break, honestly."

Ino released an aggravated breath. "Sorry, Hina. I'm just so tired of doing this song!"

Kurenai, who had been staying quiet in the corner of the music room, stood up and placed her hands on her hips. "Okay, why don't you girls take a break? We'll practice some more later after dinner. Until then, you have free time to do whatever you want." She smiled when most of the girls cheered in excitement. "But, no troublemaking, okay?"

"Yes, Miss Kurenai!" They replied back simultaneously.

Hinata continued to sit before her harp, while Sakura and Ino went to go put their instruments away, and Temari and Tenten stretched their limbs after their excessive dancing. Despite what Kurenai said about free time, Hinata only wanted to spend it playing her harp and trying to learn that part of the song. Temari and Tenten were right; it was difficult for Hinata, learning to play the harp on her own. She had to memorize every sound that resulted from the different strings being plucked, and determine which sound was needed for certain parts of the song. She had been learning for a year, but she knew it would take more time to fully memorize every sound and tune.

Hinata was awoken from her reverie when she heard Sakura speak from her position by the window. "Who's that?"

"What are you talking about?" Ino inquired as she walked to stand next to her pink-haired friend, who was looking intently out the window and down at the courtyard.

Sakura pointed to a small boy next to Kakashi, who was walking towards Gai and Asuma. "That boy right there. I've never seen him before."

All too suddenly, a bright blush dusted over Ino and Sakura's faces. The blonde was the first to speak. "Wow…He's really cute!"

Having their interest peaked, Tenten and Temari glanced at each other before shrugging and walking over to join the two younger girls.

Being curious as well, Hinata got up to join them, trying to see what boy they seemed so interested in. Standing next to Tenten, Hinata peered out the window at the young black-haired boy with equally black eyes. Her own eyes widened at the sight of him, for he looked familiar to her—like she had seen him before, even though she knew she hadn't. It was his facial features that seemed to trigger her memory, but she couldn't seem to place why that was.

* * *

Gai and Asuma turned their attention away from the running boys when they caught sight of Kakashi approaching them with the half-demon boy they had seen earlier. Gai's features immediately brightened with excitement upon seeing his gray-haired rival. "Ah, Kakashi! You appear to be looking for a challenge. Well, you've come to the right person! Name the task, and I will show you who the better one is!"

"Not now, Gai." Kakashi sighed. "We have more important matters, so call the other boys in."

Asuma nodded while Gai seemed to start pouting. The smoker looked towards the boys, who were all still running, and whistled loudly. "Running is over! Get over here, now!"

The boys practically cheered for joy, hearing that they didn't have to complete all twenty laps. It only took them a few seconds to stand in front of the three masters with curiosity written in their eyes. The reason for their curiosity was a mix between why they were called over and the mysterious boy standing next to the masked master. "Who's that?" Naruto asked aloud.

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask and placed a hand on the little boy's shoulder. "This is Sasuke Uchiha. He's about your age and he might be staying here with us at the temple."

"A new boy, huh?" Kiba muttered with his eyebrows lowered.

Hearing the last part of what Kakashi said, Sasuke turned to glare at the man. "I'm not staying here."

Kakashi eyed him with a knowing smile. "We'll see." Facing the boys again, Kakashi began speaking with a strange amusement to his voice. "Anyway, Sasuke, here, thinks that there would be no point in him staying here. He thinks that it will only make him weaker. In fact, he thinks that he's already stronger than any of you."

"Yeah, right!" Naruto yelled, insulted.

Kiba, Lee, and Kankuro soon joined in on the yelling about how they were definitely stronger than the new kid. The quieter boys of the group merely glared at Sasuke in challenge.

"Calm down." Kakashi's order was clear and serious, causing the boys to stop talking immediately. "So, to prove to Sasuke that you boys aren't weak, he's going to fight one of you, and one of you only." His warning was meant for the more excited of the bunch, who were looking on with hopes that they would get to fight the black-haired boy. Kakashi glanced off towards the entrance to the temple, where he saw Tsunade and Jiraiya standing at the doorway with watchful expressions. When Kakashi met eyes with the matriarch, he saw her nod, causing him to sigh and run a hand through his thick hair.

"So, who's fighting him, Master Kakashi?" Naruto asked eagerly.

Kakashi glanced over them with his hand wrapped around the back of his neck. "Sasuke's opponent will be…Gaara, since he's considered the strongest among you all." He glanced at Sasuke. "Satisfied?"

The onyx-eyed boy grunted and took a few steps forward. "This will be too easy."

"Think so?" The voice originated from the red-haired boy standing a good five feet from him with his little arms crossed over his chest. Gaara inhaled deeply and his eyes widened briefly when he caught a scent of something quite interesting. "I know what you are."

Sasuke regarded him in confusion at first before he began to understand what Gaara was referring to. _I'm a half-demon…and he knows._

Gaara made no expression as he released the next few words. "I am one too."

This time, it was Sasuke who widened his eyes in disbelief. Even as young and naïve as he was, he would've been a fool to think he was the only half-demon out there. However, he would've never guessed that there was one living at the temple in Konoha, a village famous for its walls, which were impenetrable by all demons. He couldn't believe that a half-demon was living amongst humans, and from what he remembered, deities as well.

Kakashi took his place in-between the boys. "This will be a clean-cut fight. Keep it between you two, and no one else. First one rendered unconscious or admits defeat loses. Either that or I will call an end to the match and declare the winner myself. Is that clear?"

Gaara nodded once in understanding, for he had fought like this before in what was considered spars between him and the other boys.

Sasuke, awoken from his reverie, nodded as well and lowered his body into a fighting stance. "I don't care what you are," Sasuke murmured to only Gaara's ears, even though Kakashi could hear as well. "Unlike you, I was trained by my father, who was a demon. You can't win against me."

Gaara only blinked and stood still with his arms still crossed over his chest.

"Okay then," Kakashi backed away a few steps. "Play fair, boys. Begin!"

* * *

Itachi exited the cave he had been residing in since the destruction of his father's prized village. He didn't care for how long he had been in the same area; all he cared about was what there was left to do since he had finally killed his supposed almighty father. He knew what he would end up doing, but that wasn't what interested him. Like the rest of the demons, he would be involved in the ongoing war between the demons and the humans.

Like other demons, it was his job to go where ordered and destroy, kill, and massacre whatever person, demon hunter, or village he was assigned to do so. To other demons he was acquainted with, it was exciting and quenched the bloodthirst that was natural in their kind. Itachi couldn't help but agree that he enjoyed the slaughtering of those who stood in his path, but it was too easy. If something became too easy, it would become tiring and boring. Thus, that small predicament landed Itachi to where he was currently.

Not entirely unbeknownst to him, he was searching for amusement or entertainment. He wanted something he could take interest in, something that would give some meaning to his so called "evilly demonic" existence. As much as he enjoyed feeling a victim's blood dripping from his fingertips, he wanted something else…He just couldn't figure out what that was.

His thoughts led his footsteps to wander aimlessly through the vast forest outside the Konoha walls. He had no destination; he only walked. That is, until the barest brushing of leaves sounded in his sensitive ears, making his feet stop moving, and his body to stand extremely still like a predator. His red eyes stared ahead of him, and there was absolutely no indication that he cared for what was _trying _to sneak past him. Resisting the urge to sigh, he closed his eyes. "Come out, Kisame."

A short snort was heard before a large and very blue man jumped down from a nearby tree and smirked at the Uchiha. The parting of his blue lips showed sharp teeth hiding behind. It was well known that Kisame was a shark demon, and while there were others of his kind, he was the only one who traveled on land for long periods of time. Most of his kind preferred to stay near the water, where their strengths resided.

Kisame chuckled lowly. "Can't get anything past you, eh Itachi?"

"What are you doing here?" His question sounded drawn out, nothing like how a question should sound like. In boredom, Itachi stared blankly at the trees before him.

Kisame took wide steps closer to Itachi until he was leaning against the tree directly in front of him. "I'm just here on orders."

Itachi glanced at him with a hidden threat to his eyes.

The strangely colored demon's smirk widened. "Our 'amazing' leader sent me to come find you and see if you were still alive. I passed by the village a few miles back, and I must compliment you on your work. I can only guess that you took care of your father?"

"It was a fight to the death," Itachi murmured with a hint of annoyance. "I'm alive, so that answer should be obvious."

"Yeah, yeah, I figured as much." Kisame repositioned himself and tilted his head curiously at the dark-haired demon. "Although, a lot of us were assuming that you would come out of it seriously injured. After all, Fugaku was very powerful." He laughed loudly. "But here you are—not a scratch on you! I'm beginning to think it should be you leading our race."

"It was offered to me, but it didn't sound very appealing."

"Ha, I guess it wouldn't."

"Is there something else you want?" Itachi didn't let it show just how agitated he was getting due to Kisame's presence.

"Not really." He shrugged in reply. "Now that I know you're alive, I'll have to go back and report to our oh-so-wonderful leader. He said that if I found you alive, I was to tell you to take some time to recuperate before coming back. Although, it doesn't look like you'll need it since you weren't injured in the first place."

Itachi's eyes narrowed slightly as a childlike face flashed before his eyes. For a brief moment, he saw the dark indigo-colored hair and wide innocent eyes staring back at him. His jaw tightened in remembrance that he was indeed badly injured, but a small girl, a deity, was the one who healed him and made it appear as though he were never harmed at all.

Kisame continued on, not taking notice of Itachi's drifting thoughts. "So, now I have to head back and tell him that you're all fine and dandy. After that, I'll probably come see you again before heading off to fulfill my own orders."

"Where to?" Itachi spoke in that same monotone voice.

Kisame scratched the back of his head with that same twisted grin on his features. "I'll be heading to a village on the east shore about 250 miles from here."

Itachi stared at him with an eyebrow raised. "What's the point in that? There are already demons residing there who can take care of the village."

"Tell me about it." The shark demon's grin faltered in irritation. "I'm sent there as back-up in case things go out of hand."

"The leader is just panicking since we've lost a good amount of demons in the past half year."

"No shit." Kisame laughed. "Although, the only demons that I actually knew was Orochimaru and Kabuto, and let's face it, that wasn't really a loss at all."

"Hn," Itachi folded his arms over his chest and glared in boredom at the other demon. "Get going, Kisame. You're wasting time here."

"Fine, fine." He waved his hands in front of him. "I should've known better than to try to have a conversation with you. It's like talking to a wall." He muttered below his breath before jumping onto a tree branch and waving back to the red-eyed demon. "I'll see you in a few days!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Itachi watched Kisame disappear from his vision, knowing he was heading back up North to the main residence of the demon race, Akatsuki. Closing his eyes and opening them, Itachi leaped onto the branch of a nearby tree and began hunting for his evening meal.

* * *

**First off, I apologize for this not having any ItaHina interaction, but that's coming for the next chapter. I was going to include it in this one, but it would go on forever, and I didn't want that, so you'll just have to wait a little longer.**

**Anyway, I wanted to clear something up. I know how the actual Naruto story line goes and all that stuff, and while there will be some similarities between this story and the real Naruto anime/manga, there won't be a lot when dealing with the real workings of Akatsuki and its members. This is an AU, which also means that it's my own story and I will manipulate and warp it to the way I want it. So, don't expect this to follow a good majority of Naruto, because it won't.**

**Okay, that's all I wanted to say on that matter. **

**-ALSO-PAIRINGS-I'm having difficulty on choosing other pairings for the story, so I'm asking for ideas and what you would like to see. The side-pairings won't be focused on too much, but they're needed. Any ideas are welcome, but here are the conditions. There will only be HET(male/female) pairings, and the only ones that aren't going to be involved are Hinata, Itachi, Neji, and Sasuke. I'm mainly wanting to have the other four deities paired up, so yeah. Input would be awesome! That's it. Thank you!**

_Please check out my LiveJournal account as well. I post all important information regarding my stories on there, so if you're interested, go right ahead. I also post when my next updates will be. Thanks! Please Review!_


	7. Observation

**Author Note: **Thank you for the reviews! Read the ending note, please! (In re: pairings)

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter VI**

**Observation**

* * *

"_The pain of the mind is worse than the pain of the body."_

_-Publilius Syrus_

"_The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."_

_-Ellen Parr_

* * *

All five girls watched with astonishment at the fight just below them in the courtyard. They had only just seen this raven-haired boy, and he was fighting Gaara…Gaara, of all the boys there! Sakura and Ino, despite knowing Gaara since their arrival at the temple, at once began rooting for Sasuke with the admiring blushes on their cheeks never fading.

Tenten watched objectively, taking note of the different fighting styles and how they were used. Hinata and Temari, on the other hand, were taking the fight in a more worrisome manner. Temari was obviously and naturally worried for her younger brother, especially for what could happen if he didn't control himself. She saw how intense the fight was already, which made her frantic about how easily Gaara could lose himself amidst the fighting.

Hinata's eyes were still wide, and while she was also worried for her red-haired friend, she couldn't keep her eyes away from the new boy. She couldn't seem to give up the feeling that she had seen him before. She knew without a doubt that she had never met the boy, but there was something about the way he looked that triggered her memory in an annoyingly pounding manner. His facial structure, his dark hair that prohibited a clear view of his eyes, and, of course, just the way he held himself. There was such an arrogance there, a very proud and powerful stature. While his eyes emanated that feeling, there was a certain coldness that was missing, a type of deathly threat that tied in with the memory she couldn't seem to recall at the moment. She leaned over the window ledge, hoping for a better view.

"Miss Kurenai!" Ino called as she turned around, only to notice that the red-eyed woman was standing right behind them. "Oh—Hey! Is it okay if we go out there and watch?"

"Yeah!" Sakura chimed in. "Please? Can we go watch the fight? Please, please, please?"

Tenten nodded in agreement, but Temari and Hinata seemed too occupied with the fight to even pay attention to what was being said just behind them.

Kurenai sighed. "Go ahead…" The girls were about to cheer and run, but the older woman stopped them immediately. "But! I don't want any of you to get too close, understand? You can watch from a distance, but that's it. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Miss Kurenai!" Ino and Sakura replied simultaneously, and began running towards the door with enthusiasm. However, they paused when Temari ran passed them with her hand gripped around Hinata's wrist.

"Come on, Hina, let's go." Was all they heard Temari say before the older blonde girl practically dragged Hinata out of the room and down the corridors.

Kurenai made her way out of the room, while the three girls stayed rooted to their spot for a moment. Sakura frowned. "Geez…Temari's in a rush, huh?"

"No kidding." Ino agreed. "And why'd she only take Hinata with her?"

Sakura nodded. "She was never that nice to _us _when we first got here."

"Yeah," The younger blonde folded her arms over her chest. "Why does Hinata get the special treatment?"

"You guys obviously don't know Temari that well…" Tenten murmured to herself before she rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Wow, are you guys really that jealous?"

"No!" They yelled back almost immediately.

"Fine then," Tenten motioned to the doorway with impatience. "Let's hurry and get down there before the fight is over!"

Feeling knocked out of their minor ramblings, Sakura and Ino gaped for a moment before following after Tenten with eagerness to see just whom the new boy was.

* * *

Sasuke was breathing heavily as he remained a good distance away from the young redhead. In his young life, he had only ever sparred against his father and fought a few of the other boys in his village. The difference was that those boys were human, whereas the boy he was fighting currently was the same as him—a half-demon. He had never fought or even seen another half-demon besides himself, and he was excited to fight him at first. However, his thrilling experience was fading only to be replaced by utter frustration due to his opponent's antics.

First off, all the redhead did was stand in one spot and use his hands; that was the only movements he made. Also, interestingly enough, the boy's demon power allowed him to have control over sand and direct it to his will. Sasuke hadn't been able to get one hit in because of that sand, which would always erect into a shield, protecting its master.

The young Uchiha was beginning to grow weary of the great amounts of energy he was expending just to get close to the sand half-demon. However, he wasn't done yet.

"You're not gonna fight me?" Sasuke taunted the other boy. "You're a coward for hiding behind a bunch of dirt."

Gaara only narrowed his eyes at the insult. "At least I'm not the one fighting 'dirt' as my opponent instead of the _real _opponent."

Sasuke's upper lip twisted into a snarl. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"You know." Was all Gaara spoke before raising his hand causing the sand to twist and turn before him, and suddenly, he was on offense.

In return, Sasuke's eyes widened just before he jumped to avoid a large spear of sand coming straight for him. For the next minute, he was doing nothing but dodging repetitive strikes from the deadly sand.

Finally, the young Sasuke decided to take action, for he knew that if he could get close enough to the redhead, he could land a hit. That was his only goal at the moment—to just land one hit. Therefore, he hit the ground and rolled to the side, causing the incoming sand to crash a few feet from him. Jumping up onto his feet, he immediately began running toward the other little boy aiming a fist for Gaara's face. Unfortunately, the sand blocked his attack, leading Sasuke to step back and kick right through the wall of sand, making it disappear for only a moment. By then, Sasuke's next punch was too slow and connected with the same wall of sand, which didn't release his arm like before. Instead, the sand seemed to curl and wrap around his wrist, as if it wanted to absorb his entire being.

Sasuke's eyes widened once again in panic before his other fist automatically moved to punch against the captivating sand. Luckily for him, the sand fell to the ground, giving Sasuke time to backpedal away from his opponent.

Gaara only grunted before crossing his arms over his chest. "You can try, but you can't get through my sand. It's impossible."

"Whatever…" Sasuke wiped his forehead with the back of his hand to relieve him of the sweat that was building up there. "Just you wait…I'll beat you into the ground."

With narrowed eyes, Gaara waited and watched for whatever move the Uchiha would try to commence next.

--

"He won't be any match for Gaara; that's for sure." Asuma mumbled from his place next to Kakashi.

"Perhaps not…" The silver-haired man agreed. "But he's an Uchiha hybrid, and he has potential."

Gai nodded. "As long as the boy is trained correctly to where he can utilize his skills, he could become quite a rival."

"Not to mention the poetic justice of it all." Even though the others couldn't tell, Kakashi was smirking beneath his mask.

Asuma lit up a rolled cigarette between his lips before exhaling and raising an eyebrow at him in reply. "What is that supposed to mean? You look like you're scheming something, Hatake."

The corner of Kakashi's visible eye creased, proving even more that he was smiling, albeit in attempted innocence. "If Sasuke were to stay here and be trained like the other boys, then it's true that he could become quite powerful. After all, the Uchiha demons have been notorious for centuries as demons that are too powerful to beat. Sasuke seems to be the first of his kind, the first Uchiha half-demon. All we need to do is train him, and once he's strong enough, he can go fulfill his goal."

"A goal, huh?" Gai asked slowly.

"Yes," Kakashi let his arms rest limply by his sides. "Sasuke, here, has a goal to kill his half-brother, who just happens to be Itachi Uchiha."

Simultaneously, Asuma and Gai widened their eyes in shock and recognition of the infamous name. Gai's lips twisted into a snarl. "That closely related, huh?"

After another inhale, Asuma began to chuckle deeply to himself. "I get it now. Out of all of us here, only Sasuke has the potential to kill Itachi. That's the poetic justice you were talking about, am I right? The only one able to kill Itachi just happens to be his little brother." He chuckled some more before shaking his head. "Very poetic."

"I thought so." Kakashi murmured in amusement, while continuing to watch the fight before them.

--

Temari came to a halt just a few feet behind the small group of boys, who were separating her from the fight between her youngest brother and the new kid. Wanting to rush up there, she nearly forgot whom she had dragged along with her. With her hand still gripped around Hinata's tiny wrist, Temari glanced at her with slightly furrowed brows. "Hinata…"

The dark-haired girl was panting as she turned up to look at her eldest friend. "Y-Yes, Temari?"

"Let's get closer, okay?"

"Um, okay…"

Just as Temari turned forward, someone appeared right in front of them, blocking the two girls from moving so much as a step forward. Forced to look up, they immediately recognized who was standing in their way. "Master Asuma,"

"Temari," Asuma nodded solemnly, not caring how obvious it was that his shoulders were tense. His eyes trailed over to the other little girl, to which he nodded again. "Hinata,"

In response, Hinata bowed in respect. "M-Master A-Asuma…" Until her breathing stabilized again, she had a feeling she would be stuttering for awhile yet.

At once, though, Asuma became very serious despite his calm-sounding voice. "Shouldn't you girls be inside?"

Temari shook her head sternly. "No way. That's my brother fighting over there!"

"Yes, I know that, Temari, but…" Asuma made sure to keep his body blocking any view they might have of the fight. "Unless you have permission to be out here, then—"

"They do have permission." An elegant, female voice interrupted him from behind the two girls.

Asuma looked over to meet familiar red eyes. "Kurenai,"

She continued walking until she was standing next to Hinata, and staring at nothing else but the man in front of her. "I gave them permission to come watch the fight."

"That's not a good idea." He mumbled, moving closer until there was barely an inch between them. Tilting his head so as to keep the two girls from eavesdropping, he began to whisper. "Other than Temari, none of the other girls know about what Gaara is."

"They've seen him fight before." She whispered back.

"Yes, but only in spars against the other boys. Anytime the girls were around, we made sure to tell Naruto and Gaara to never use their powers. Lady Tsunade made it clear to us all that she didn't want the girls knowing right off the bat that Gaara and Naruto aren't exactly human."

"They were bound to find out someday, but this is only a spar too, right?"

"Not really. Not like the ones those girls are used to seeing, anyway. That boy right there is Sasuke, the half-demon that came here not too long ago. He was ordered to fight against Gaara, another half-demon, for the mere purpose of testing his current capabilities. That's why we allowed Gaara to use his sand."

Kurenai frowned suddenly. "That's great, but if you're so worried about the girls seeing Gaara's power, why aren't you worried about the boys seeing it?"

"Well, it doesn't really matter too much, considering the boys have all seen Gaara control the sand. They've just been told it's a special ability of his. Other than Kankuro and Naruto, the boys are clueless about the two half-demons living among them. It's better that way…at least for now."

Kurenai smirked. "Well, then, I'll just give the girls the same excuse."

"Or, you could've just avoided this all-together."

"Some things aren't meant to be avoided for long, Asuma."

He grunted once before disappearing back to his original place next to Kakashi and Gai.

Hinata watched with eyes never narrowing at the fight ahead of her. She couldn't see much from her position, since she was shorter than the group of boys, but from what she could see…it looked as though Gaara was…_controlling _the sand. Curiously, she tugged on Temari's identical white gown to get her attention. Once the older girl met Hinata's eyes, the younger gulped soundly. "Um, Temari? Um, h-how can Gaara do that? Does he have powers like us?"

Temari opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by Kurenai who had rejoined them. "Kind of." The red-eyed woman smiled kindly at the little girl. "Some humans are just gifted, that's all."

"Oh…" Hinata believed it and turned back to watch the fight.

Meanwhile, Temari made contact with Kurenai, who winked at her. Temari smiled shakily in return before turning her worried eyes to her younger brother. _Gaara…_

"Did we miss anything?" Tenten shouted once she got close enough to the other three. Behind her, Sakura and Ino followed in a run, only stopping when they had joined the group.

"Yeah, what happened?" Sakura asked, bending over with her hands on her knees to attempt to stabilize her breathing.

It only took Ino a moment to glance at each one of them curiously before settling on Hinata for a longer moment. A look of surprise came over her as she trailed her eyes to the sand swirling around the redheaded boy she had known for a few years. "Wow, I never knew."

All the girls quickly turned back to look at her—with the exception that Kurenai and Temari looked nearly panicked at forgetting Ino's ability to read minds.

"What are you talking about, Ino?" Tenten asked curiously.

Ino just shrugged, keeping her eyes on the fight. "I just never knew that Gaara could control the sand is all."

"Yeah," Sakura glanced between Gaara and her blonde friend in confusion. "I didn't know he could do that either, but…why is that?"

Tenten looked skeptical. "Is it even possible for him to have that kind of ability?"

"He's not a deity or anything," Ino looked to Kurenai, already knowing she couldn't read her mind. However, she was remembering what the older lady had said to Hinata before they got there. Thank God that Hinata didn't know how to seal her thoughts and memories from Ino's power. "Gaara just has a special ability—that's all."

"Wow," Tenten smiled in excitement. "Gaara's pretty cool, then."

"Yeah, whatever," Ino retorted with a pout before blushing upon eyeing Gaara's opponent. "Sasuke's a lot cooler, though."

"Mhm!" Sakura nodded in absolute agreement.

Rolling her eyes for a brief moment, Temari kept her grip on Hinata's wrist as she began taking steps forward toward the group of boys. "Come on, Hina. Let's get a closer look."

"Um, o-okay…"

Kurenai called after Temari. "Temari, Hinata, don't you get too close, understand?"

Temari merely waved a hand over her shoulder. "Yes, miss Kurenai. Don't worry about us."

Breathing in deeply through her nose and out her mouth, the older woman just shook her head in exhaustion. "It's Hinata I'm worried about. It's like that poor girl has suddenly become Temari's pet or something." She glanced at Sakura and Ino out of the corner of her eye. _Temari was never really that nice to the other girls when they first got here. Tenten doesn't look like she cares, but Sakura and Ino don't look like they like the idea of Hinata being befriended by Temari so quickly. They just don't understand Temari's personality._

--

"This is boring." Gaara muttered as he continued to watch Sasuke dodge each of his sand attacks.

Sasuke hadn't been on his feet for more than a second before having to jump out of the way of another attack. "Well, maybe if you let me hit you, it wouldn't be so boring anymore."

"Why would I do that…If you can't hit me, that's your fault."

"Shut up."

Gaara pulled back the sand until it was swirling around his body in a wispy circle. "For being what you are, I think you're actually weaker than a human."

"Shut up!" Sasuke yelled in ferocity, not taking notice that his onyx eyes had flickered to red for the briefest of moments. Instead, he increased his speed as he ran towards Gaara, only to collide his flurry of punches and kicks with the wall of sand that continued to separate him from his real opponent.

"You look angry." There was no expression on the redhead's face.

"Stop talking!" With every hit the young Uchiha delivered, the sand would disappear only to be replaced by more sand, always erecting to protect its master.

Still feeling bored, Gaara began to taunt the other boy even more. "If you're not as weak as a human, then where are your powers? Or do you not have any? Your father must have been weak if he couldn't even teach you anything about your powers."

"I said shut up!" Sasuke was yelling and the anger began to grow rapidly inside of him until his eyes were constantly flickering between red and black.

"This is really boring. You don't even have a power."

Sasuke growled to himself as his anger was finally letting loose. Jumping away from Gaara, he glared hatefully. "Fine. You wanna see my powers? You're gonna regret it!"

Gaara blinked and waited.

Sasuke moved his hand to his mouth and made a circle out of his forefinger and thumb, positioning it outside of his mouth. Inhaling deeply, he blew fiercely through the circle his fingers made, and suddenly, a large burst of fire came from him and went straight for Gaara.

A wall of sand came up to shield Gaara from the fire, which kept coming in a continuous blow. Gaara was forced to step back a few feet at the amount of heat that was permeating his sand. It almost made him sweat.

Seeing the fire curl around the wall of sand, Gaara found himself frowning for the first time during the whole match. The fire was starting to affect his sand, and he didn't like it one bit. Jumping away from the direction of the fire, the sand followed Gaara, and the fire died off.

With the fire gone, Sasuke hunched over with his hands on his knees in exhaustion. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but that move took a lot out of him. However, he was just thrilled that he managed to get his opponent moving for once. For the first time, Sasuke genuinely smirked.

--

It seemed that the group of boys and girls weren't the only ones with wide eyes full of shock at what just happened. Gai, Asuma, and even Kakashi were equally as shocked. "Well, would you look at that."

Gai held a hand to his chin in thought. "The boy's got guts to pull off something like that at his young age."

"There's no doubt about it." Kakashi spoke below his breath. "He's a true Uchiha. That's a technique signature to the Uchihas, and them only. It's not strong, but he has the basics down. If he were to master that…"

"Kakashi," Gai began. "That was a demonic power he just used. The way his eyes kept becoming red was an indication of that. Can you imagine what he could be capable of if he only learned to master that side of him?"

Kakashi nodded in reply. "He'd be quite the challenge for Gaara…and Naruto, too, I'm sure."

Glancing away from Kakashi and the exhausted Sasuke, Asuma turned his gaze onto the obviously angered sand master. "What will you do now, Gaara? You better stay calm, cause I really don't want to have to step in to save that boy's life."

--

"Temari," Kankuro's brow raised at seeing his older sister appear beside him. "When'd you get here?"

"Just now." Temari bit her lip. "Is he okay?"

"He was fine for awhile until that fire attack." Kankuro formed a frown onto his young face. "Now he looks pretty angry."

"But why? The fire didn't touch him."

"That doesn't matter." Naruto spoke, alerting them to his presence just ahead of them. "Gaara doesn't like it when his sand can't stop something. The fire was getting too close…so…"

In only a second or two, Temari became even more worried than before. "Gaara…"

From her position next to Temari, Hinata couldn't help but jump when she heard someone say her name very close to her ear. She fearfully turned to her side only to see familiar white eyes staring back at her. "Oh…" She breathed out in relief. "Neji…"

He smiled slightly. "Did I scare you?"

"Um…n-no…"

His smile grew. "Liar, liar…"

A blush of embarrassment came over her cheeks as Hinata pouted. "It only scared me a little."

"Right…" Neji smirked, but it dropped a minute later as if he had just realized something. "What are you doing here?"

"Um, well," She was tempted to push her forefingers together, but remembered that one of her arms was incapacitated due to Temari's tight grip on her wrist. Instead, her blush just deepened. "We saw the fight and wanted to come watch, since…Gaara was fighting, but…Who's that other boy?"

"Yeah, who is he?" Tenten inquired, causing Hinata to jump again since she didn't know that Tenten had followed them up front.

"Yeah, please tell us his name!"

"He is so-o-o-o cute!"

Apparently, Sakura and Ino followed as well.

Temari turned back to the three girls with a glare. "Why are you following us?"

"We weren't following!"

"Yeah," Sakura agreed with Ino. "We just wanted to get a better look, too."

"Whatever." Temari rolled her eyes back up to the fight.

Hinata smiled at the girls in welcome, but her attention was forced away from them by Neji, who began speaking again.

His opal eyes would glance between her and the dark-haired boy as he explained what he knew. "His name is Sasuke Uchiha, and he's seven, I think."

For some reason, the name Uchiha sounded vaguely familiar to Hinata, but she couldn't seem to figure out why, or where she had heard it before.

Neji continued with a displeased look on his face. "I guess he's going to be staying here at the temple."

Ino and Sakura immediately began squealing in glee at just the idea of being able to see their dark-haired prince every day.

Hinata's eyebrows lowered in thought. "But, then…why is he fighting Gaara?" This time, Temari glanced over to hear what the reasoning was.

Neji almost looked angry as he answered her question. "He thinks he's stronger than us, so Master Kakashi made him fight Gaara to see if he's really as strong as he says he is. I can tell that he's really not. Sasuke Uchiha is going to lose."

"Aw, don't say that, Neji!" Ino complained with her hands on her small hips.

"Yeah, Sasuke's too cool to lose." Sakura nodded fervently as if it was a fact that everybody should know.

Tenten raised a brow. "What are you two talking about? You just saw him!"

Hearing what the girls were saying, Kankuro moved back to stand next to Tenten. "Do you guys have a stupid crush on that stupid little boy fighting my brother?"

"He's not stupid!" They both yelled back.

Kankuro and Tenten looked at each other before rolling their eyes and murmuring under their breaths at the same time. "They do."

"Um, Temari?" Hinata tugged on the older girl's gown again.

"What is it, Hina?" she acknowledged without turning away from her youngest sibling.

"Is Gaara going to be okay?"

Hearing the sincerity in her young friend's voice made Temari look at her with a comforting smile. "Of course he will, Hina. Gaara's a lot stronger than he looks."

Hinata smiled happily. "Okay, that's good."

Now, if only Temari could convince herself of that too. _Please don't lose control, Gaara. Please…_

--

"I've had enough." Gaara spoke in a breathy threat. With intimidating steps, he began to stalk toward the hunched over form of Sasuke. His sand flew around him furiously.

Sasuke looked up at him and narrowed his eyes when he thought he saw Gaara's aquamarine eyes turn a golden color for a moment.

--

"Uh oh…"

"What is it, Kakashi?" Asuma asked, wondering whether he should be worried or not.

"Be ready."

"For what?"

"We just might have to interfere soon."

"Oh…" Asuma dropped his cigarette at his feet before promptly stepping on it. "Well, shit…"

--

Noticing the color change in their brother's eyes, Temari and Kankuro exchanged worried glances as they hesitantly made their way to the front of the group, getting as close to Gaara as they could without interfering in the fight. Naruto, seeing the two siblings walk passed him, caught onto what might be happening, and decided to join them if need be. After all, he considered Gaara to be like a brother to him.

--

"I'm done playing games with you." Gaara muttered again, holding out a hand towards Sasuke.

Sasuke stood straight up, positioning his fingers at his mouth again. However, before he could even breath in, he felt like he got hit by a boulder, which sent him flying a few feet to the side. Landing on his arm painfully, he quickly sat up with another attempt to attack.

It seemed like Gaara wasn't going to let that happen, though. Rather, Gaara continued to push his sand forward, knocking Sasuke in different directions. Each time, Sasuke would stand up with a new wound on his body.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, Gaara forced his sand to encase Sasuke, so only his head would be shown. "You…are weak." Smirking sardonically, Gaara slowly began to close his hand, enjoying the groans of pain coming from his victim.

It ended just as quickly as it began.

Gaara was surprised when something crashed into his side, causing him to hit the ground with an added weight on top of him.

The sand fell away from Sasuke's body before the boy landed perfectly in Kakashi's waiting arms.

Gai and Asuma stood over Gaara with readied expressions. Opening his eyes, Gaara looked around him, seeing his siblings kneeling next to him in worry, and his blonde friend lifting himself off of him. He realized that it must've been Naruto who tackled him before he could do any real harm to the Uchiha boy.

Naruto backed away until he was sitting up next to Gaara. "Chill out, Gaara. You won, okay?"

The redhead looked around as if he had just woken from a dream. Realizing that he nearly lost control, he bowed his head in shame. "I…I am sorry…"

"You idiot…" Temari mumbled before embracing her brother tightly. "As long as you're okay…"

"Geez, Gaara…" Kankuro laughed while rubbing the back of his head. "You're gonna give Temari a heart attack."

--

"How does it look? Is he alright?" Kurenai asked after she had run up to Kakashi, who was holding the injured, but conscious, Sasuke in his arms.

"I'll need to take him to Shizune."

"Don't bother." Kurenai smiled. "Just put him on the ground and wait for a second."

Kakashi watched the woman jog away as he blinked a few times in confusion. Shrugging to himself, he put Sasuke down on the ground, ignoring the angry muttering, which was coming from the boy.

All too soon, Kurenai came running back with her hand wrapped around the smaller hand of Hinata, who looked very confused at the moment.

When she approached Kakashi, she gently pushed Hinata toward Sasuke with a smile. "Go ahead, Hinata."

"Um, but…" The little girl faced her with uncertainty.

"What are you doing?" Kakashi asked.

Kurenai glared at him. "There's no point in bothering Shizune when we've got the greatest healer right here."

"Oh, of course. I forgot that Hinata had that special talent."

Kurenai turned back to smiling at Hinata. "Go ahead, Hinata. It's alright."

"Um, okay…" Hinata gulped, knowing that she wasn't afraid of healing the boy…She was just afraid of the boy, period. There was still something about him that bothered her and made her feel uneasy. Narrowing in on one of his many small wounds, Hinata briefly pondered to herself why that was.

As for Sasuke, he seemed to be pouting at the moment—angry that he had lost so easily. Against his will, he wondered that if the half-demon was that strong, how strong were the human boys? He was tempted to fight one of the humans, and if he lost to them, he'd willingly stay and train under the masters. So far, he had been training himself, and he just realized how useless it was.

Forming his hands into tight fists, Sasuke glared ahead of him, knowing that he was far from ready to fight his half-brother.

With another nervous gulp, Hinata moved onto to heal another wound. She fought to keep her eyes on what she was doing, rather than stare up at him. Occasionally, she would glance quickly up at his face, only to force herself to look back down in fear of getting caught.

Sasuke had somewhat calmed down, although the anger was still boiling inside of his young body. Relaxing his posture, he turned his head to look at the little girl who was healing him…and quite quickly. Her hands seemed to glow as she covered each one of his injuries, and he'd feel a warm and tingly sensation before she pulled away, revealing his skin as if it had never been harmed in the first place. When he looked up at her face, his eyes met hers until she blushed heavily, winced, and shakily returned to healing him. In normal circumstances, he would've thought it funny that she was scared of him, but at the moment, he only felt irritation. "You're a deity, right?"

Refusing to look at him, Hinata nodded mutely.

"And you heal things." He stated, seeing her nod again. "Is that all you can do?"

Hinata looked up at him, hearing his mocking tone. "Um…I-I guess…"

"Hn, how pathetic."

Her mouth parted. "W-What…?"

He turned the full extent of his scowl on her. "You can't fight, you don't have any cool powers…you're pathetic…and useless, and—" Whatever else he was going to say became muffled due to the large hand covering his mouth.

Kakashi's face appeared next to Sasuke, and he smiled at Hinata. "Now, now, Sasuke…Let's watch that mouth of yours before it gets you into too much trouble. Surely, you can imagine what Lady Tsunade would do if she found out how you were treating dear little Hinata here."

Sasuke inwardly cringed at the mental display of the older blonde woman beating him to a bloody pulp.

"Besides," Kakashi continued. "Hinata decided to heal you out of the kindness of her heart. You should be grateful."

As soon as the hand left his mouth, Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest and huffed in annoyance. Glaring at Hinata again, he spoke through clenched teeth. "Thanks…for doing something that would've been done in a few days anyway…"

Kakashi sighed, and it took everything in Kurenai not to pummel the kid. Hinata could only bow her head and blink repeatedly in an attempt to hold back her tears.

The gray-haired man stood next to Sasuke with a sly smirk on his face as he bent down to Sasuke's level. He moved his mouth close to Sasuke's ear, and used his hand to block what he was saying—in other words, Kakashi made it seem like he was telling Sasuke a highly classified secret.

Being a naturally curious little boy, Sasuke leaned closer to hear what was to be said.

Resisting the urge to chuckle, Kakashi whispered. "You know what they say, Sasuke…If a boy is mean to a girl like you were to Hinata, it means that the boy has a crush on the girl."

"What?!" Sasuke shouted incredulously. "That's not true—"

Again, Kakashi covered Sasuke's mouth, picked the struggling boy up under his arm, and began to carry him away. "Let's go, Sasuke…"

Seeing the males depart, Kurenai knelt down in front of Hinata with a gentle smile on her face. Using her finger to tilt the little girl's chin up, Kurenai was able to see Hinata's saddened face. "Don't listen to what he said, Hinata. He was just angry that he lost, and he stupidly took his anger out on you. That's all…"

"B-But…it's true…All I can do…is heal."

Kurenai laughed lightly. "Who said that was a bad thing?" She sighed. "Listen, Hinata, you have a very special gift. Something that not everyone can have. Everyone knows how to hit and cause damage, but how many people can fix the damage? Sakura, Temari, Tenten…they can easily use their powers to fight someone. It's the same way for the boys. But how many of them can heal themselves? Or each other, for that matter?"

"Um," Hinata seemed to truly be thinking about it, but couldn't think of anyone beside herself with that power.

"You see?" Kurenai smiled widely. "You're unique. Don't let someone like Sasuke put you down…okay?"

Hinata smiled and nodded. "Okay, miss Kurenai."

"Okay." She stood up and patted Hinata on the back. "Now, go. You girls have a couple hours of free time before dinner, so get going."

Hinata nodded again and ran off to go find Temari.

--

Kakashi finally put Sasuke down when they reached the doorway, where Tsunade and Jiraiya were waiting with smirks on their faces. The young Uchiha boy was scowling hatefully at the man who had been holding him. Kakashi only smiled back.

"Well, well…" Tsunade began, trying to keep from grinning to broadly. "No need to look so angry. You lost the bet fair and square. So, now…we're going to escort you to your new room. Kakashi, lead the way."

"Yes, ma'am." Kakashi stepped a few paces ahead. "Come on, Sasuke."

Feeling angrier by the minute, the boy made sure to purposely stomp loudly after the man.

Falling back a little ways, Jiraiya walked next to the blonde with a surprisingly serious expression on his face. "By the way, I just thought I'd let you know that I got a reply from the village leader."

"And?"

"He'll be coming to meet with us tomorrow."

Tsunade nodded. "Did you tell him anything yet?"

"No. I figured I could wait until letting him know that we have yet another half-demon staying with us."

"Hm."

"So," Jiraiya turned to her with an eyebrow raised. "How do you think he'll react."

Tsunade shrugged. "He seems to like Naruto."

"Well, Naruto's a hard kid to hate. He's annoying and obnoxious…but…hard to hate."

"You're preaching to the choir." Tsunade scrunched her face up into one of irritation. "That little idiot still calls me 'Granny' for some odd reason."

Jiraiya laughed. "You're lucky. At least he doesn't call you perverted."

"You _are _perverted, Jiraiya."

* * *

Not too long after the fight, the boys were sent back to training and the girls had planned to go play in various areas of the temple. Hinata had been invited, of course, but refused on account of that she desperately wanted to practice with her harp. If her mess-ups earlier were any indication, she really could use the practice; especially if she wanted to keep up with the other girls.

With that single thought in mind, she made her way up to the music room and found her small harp in a corner. Picking it up in her arms, she silently made her way over to her designated chair next to one of the windows. As soon as she was situated, her fingers began gliding over the strings, taking to memory the specific sound that each one played.

It was a difficult task, and she found herself exhausted after only a few minutes. With a heavy exhale of breath, she glanced over and peered out the window blankly. She could see the courtyard below, the gardens, and the wall, which hid her view from what she knew was outside of it. She could remember the dense forest and how dark it was, but what stuck in her memory the most was the meadow she had created, or healed to be precise. The beauty of it automatically made a smile grace upon her lips, which soon dissolved upon remembering what had occurred in the meadow.

Red eyes were what she remembered most vividly when thinking about the demon she had saved. She also remembered the blood and the dead bodies lying at his feet, making it seem like he didn't even have to move in order for them to die. The coldness and emotionless look in his eyes and face, the way his body moved gracefully, yet ready to kill at any moment…the way he spoke to her and threatened that if he ever saw her again, she would die by his hands. The horror of it made her shudder.

However, she couldn't stop thinking about that meadow and the beauty it contained. It was a fascination for her that she couldn't seem to get rid of. She couldn't help but want to go back there and feel that momentary sense of peace she felt at the time. Her eyes trailed down to a certain bush that hid a certain hole in the wall that she could crawl through easily. Despite that, she was terrified that if she were to go to that meadow, that demon would see her and deliver on his threat.

A large part of her reasoned that it wouldn't happen. Why would the demon be there again? He would have no reason, right? From her knowledge, demons traveled and rarely stayed in the same place for long moments of time. The risk was too great, especially if they had been killing like demons obviously did. Therefore, there was absolutely no way that _that _demon, or any demon, would possibly be in _her _meadow, of all places.

In all rationality, it was a weak counter-argument, but as a naïve child, it was all the reassurance she needed. Gathering up her courage and mixing it with her hidden excitement, Hinata locked her harp within her arms and began her walk towards that bush.

--

Despite knowing that everyone else was busy, she couldn't help but cautiously look around, making sure she wasn't being watched. As soon as she felt relief at being alone, she crawled through the bush, holding her harp close to her chest, and continued the long crawl through the long crevice in the wall. She wanted to see the meadow so badly. It didn't occur to her just how dangerous that would be, or just how much she was risking by doing so.

Before long, she had entered the forest, and shivered at just how dark and haunting it was. Gulping audibly, she began to hum under her breath as a way to calm her rapidly beating heart. The tune was unintelligible at first, but gradually formed into a tune that was more defined and beautiful within her mind. A strange yearning to play just a part of the song began to overlap any thoughts of fear she might've had moments before.

Minutes passed as the song she hummed began to form, and before she knew it, she found herself breaking through the dense forest into a wide clearing, her meadow.

It was just as beautiful as she remembered; although, her memories didn't exactly do it any justice. The vast amounts of wild flowers—most she had never seen in her life—blanketed the meadow and absorbed the rays of sun shining onto it. A slight breeze made the flowers sway, carrying each unique fragrance into the air and into the sniffing nose of Hinata. The beauty and ultimate peace of the area was enough to relax the young Hyuga, despite the looming, dark trees surrounding the "peaceful" meadow.

Taking a few more moments to admire the splendor, she eventually carried her harp over towards the middle of the meadow before sitting down and placing her fingers on the strings accordingly. Without further incentive, she began playing the song that she and the other girls were practicing not too long ago. While the sound covered her ears and filled the meadow, she wasn't aware just _how_ far the delicate sound carried.

* * *

The red-eyed demon threw a large—and very dead—mountain lion at his feet just before the entrance to the cave, where he was currently residing. It wasn't a difficult hunt, and not exciting in the least. For one brief moment, he had deeply wished that the lion would've posed more of a threat, or at least fought back with more ferocity. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. However, Itachi couldn't imagine any animal posing a threat to him or even putting up a decent fight. He was a demon after all, and demons were not feared _just_ among humans.

Before he could even begin to skin and prepare his meal, his body froze as an unfamiliar sound echoed through the trees of the forest. It was as soft as a bird's twittering and more melodic than anything he had ever heard. He could easily identify it as something originating from an instrument, but exactly which one, he didn't know. That, of course, was a very minute thought compared to his inquiring of _why _there would be someone playing an instrument in a dangerous forest, of all places.

Ignoring his future meal, he took slow and steady steps toward wherever the sound became the strongest. He would stop every so often to listen carefully before beginning to walk again. The further he trailed, the louder and clearer the tune became. It wasn't a complicated tune, but nevertheless, he couldn't help his own minor curiosity.

The song picked up in tempo as he finally neared its location. There was a break in the trees ahead of him, not two feet away. Walking stealthily closer, so as to seem as if he was not there at all, he glanced around a few thick branches until his uncaring eyes settled upon a vaguely familiar meadow filled with disgustingly perfumed flowers. None of that attracted his attention, though.

Instead, he found himself gazing in slight astonishment at a small harp being played in the center of the clearing. The intricate gold seemed to shine on its own, just as each of the strings glittered every time they were plucked. He had only ever come across a harp very few times in his long life and had almost not recognized it at first. Realizing that the song was originating from said instrument, his eyes trailed over the small fingers, followed by the childish arms, until he was staring at the familiar body of the deity who had healed him not too long ago. She was wearing the same white gown that showed off her pale arms, and it was the same indigo-colored hair he remembered. Although her eyes were half-lidded, his impeccable eyesight allowed him to take notice that her eyes were the same opal color that gave off a slight lavender tint with the sun shining on her.

She was just a child playing the harp in the middle of the proclaimed "dangerous" forest with a demon residing less than a quarter of a mile away. As if that wasn't menacing enough, there was also many other dangerous creatures lurking around in the forest, which obviously didn't reach her knowledge—not that he cared. If she wanted to endanger herself so badly, he wouldn't stand in her way.

However, he remembered quite vividly the threat he had given her that same day she healed him. He had specifically told her that should they cross paths again, he would kill her himself, so to speak. She obviously didn't listen, otherwise she wouldn't be there again. For not even a second, he felt nearly grateful that he had disposed of those bodies not too long after he had declared them _just _bodies. He could easily picture in his mind what her reaction would be if she were to see just how decayed they had become.

Nonetheless, as his mind continued to run through the possibilities and reasoning she would have for being there, he made no move to approach her or even make her aware of his presence.

Rather, he just stood in place and kept his eyes trained on her with that same small amount of curiosity.

Perhaps, in the time it would take her to finish her song, he would have decided whether to move forward or not.

Ultimately, he knew what his decision was. He just didn't pull through with it quite yet.

After all, she was still playing that enchanting instrument of hers with a skill no normal child should possess.

An inaudible breath escaped his lips as he closed his eyes and leaned lazily against a nearby tree with the barest of intentions to simply…listen…if only for a moment. He could always kill her later.

* * *

**I wanted to apologize for the late update. I've been extremely busy, so I hope you guys are still interested in this story. I'll try to work on it as much as I can, so I ask that you will be patient with me. Thank you!**

**PAIRINGS: In regard to the pairing request I had of all you readers, I have so far pretty much decided on who's going to be with who. Once again, they won't be major, but I got tired of always doing the same side pairings. Therefore, expect obvious crack, not that you would care anyway. Thanks for voting by the way! I really appreciate your opinions, because you gave me great ideas!**

**Thanks again!**


	8. Debate

**Author Note: **I am so happy to have my computer back! I could've updated this awhile ago if it hadn't broken down on me. So, sorry about that. Oh well, the chapter is here now, so that should make you happy. Thanks for the reviews!

**Important Note for the Story!!: **If you remember correctly, Hinata was humming a tune in the last chapter. The tune I imagined her humming was "Sadness and Sorrow" from the actual Naruto anime. Just thought you should know.

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter VII**

**Debate**

* * *

"_Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen."_

_-Ralph Waldo Emerson_

"_Your life changes the moment you make a new, congruent, and committed decision."_

_-Anthony Robbins_

"_Interest makes some people blind, and others quick-sighted."_

_-Francis Beaumont_

* * *

Music originating from the elegant strings of a harp began to flow evenly. Itachi peacefully had his eyes closed during these moments. He had obviously heard music being played before, but never like this. He couldn't describe it, but what made this music so enticing was the fact that it was played with such a furtive innocence of which he had never encountered before. He had an inclination that it was because of this little girl, this Hinata—he recalled due to his immaculate memory.

The way she played was so soothing that he nearly forgot himself and almost fell victim to sleep a few times. Although, he would jolt back to complete consciousness whenever she plucked the wrong string, causing the music to stop for a moment. In those times, he would open his eyes and stare at the young deity with a faint inquiry. He watched as she made little reprimanding noises to herself before she plucked a few other strings as if testing which was the right one.

To any person that wasn't a demon or Itachi for that matter, the girl's actions would be considered endearing. She was, after all, very cute compared to the many faceless little girls he had "traipsed" upon. Then again, any little girls he had come across were either dead with a frozen look of fear on their cherubic faces, or hadn't been killed by him yet. It was no wonder that they were always faceless in his memories.

Which made him briefly wonder why he hadn't killed the deity yet; it wasn't like he had never killed one before. What purpose did she have for existing? She was only human, a soon-to-be enemy.

What purpose did he have for killing her? What threat did she pose towards him? None.

Why kill her?

Why _not _kill her?

He growled below his breath at his sudden inner debate. Since when was questioning himself ever needed when dealing with the killing of humans? He was so irritated, he didn't take notice when the music stopped. Glancing back towards Hinata, he found the harp abandoned, but a faint humming reached his oversensitive ears. It only took a second for his eyes to locate the missing girl.

She was sitting among the overly perfumed flowers; picking a few, and humming a melancholy tune under her breath. It sounded melancholy despite the content smile on her face.

Why was he still watching her?

Why hadn't he killed her yet?

Why wouldn't he at least leave?

His answer came in the form of a young, dark-haired, white-eyed deity. With her flowers in hand, she gathered her harp under her free arm—still humming—and began to walk out of the meadow, going in the opposite direction as him.

He watched her disappear into the trees while absently inhaling her lingering scent…for tracking purposes, of course. Without further incentive, he turned on his heel and began his walk towards his cave. He was hungry, and that had to come before murdering some small, insignificant human girl.

Not to mention, he realized with a wicked gleam in his blood-red eyes, he had just found something of interest in his dull, repetitive life.

* * *

As Hinata ran back towards the safety of the Konoha walls, she absently felt relief at the thought that she didn't encounter that red-eyed demon again, or any other threat for that matter. Perhaps there was no danger in going to the meadow, for it couldn't possibly attract anything "evil", right? She nodded inwardly at her quick cognition. If she weren't harmed that time, it would be unlikely that she would be harmed any time in the future. Therefore, she made a decision to definitely go back the next day. If anything, she was at least practicing with her harp and getting better with it. The other girls would be so proud of her!

The smile stayed on her face as she crawled through the crack in the wall and nearly crawled through the large bush if she hadn't heard two people conversing not a few feet from her. She froze, still hidden in the bush, and peeked through the small foliage to see if she had been caught.

Luckily, she hadn't, but she was just as surprised at who she saw. Sitting on a stone bench near one of the many trees in the courtyard was Tenten and Kankuro. They were just sitting there talking to each other, completely oblivious to the little girl hidden in a bush not too far from them.

"Look at this." Kankuro handed her some type of folded up paper that he retrieved from one of his pockets.

Hinata watched Tenten receive the paper and unfold it before cocking a brow at whatever it was that was written on there. Hinata nearly wanted to get up and peek over her friend's shoulder in curiosity at what it was. "What is it?"

Kankuro turned to the brunette with something akin to a look of disbelief. "It's a puppet! Don't you see the arms and the legs? And I'll have strings for it too."

Tenten laughed to herself while handing the paper back. "I didn't know you liked dolls, Kankuro."

It was hard to tell from Hinata's position, but it looked like his face had gotten redder before he retorted with vehemence. "It's not a doll, it's a puppet!"

Crossing her arms over her chest, Tenten frowned in confusion. "Well, what does it do?"

Redness gone, Kankuro was back to smiling wistfully at his drawn creation. "Nothing yet. But once I build it, it'll be able to fight with me, like a weapon, when I go into battle and stuff."

Tenten snorted. "You call _that _a weapon? I'll show you a weapon!"

As their conversation continued, Hinata shook her head, bit her lip, and began to crawl away from them in the pursuit of a place for her to reappear without anybody seeing. Harp tucked closely to her chest with one arm (previously picked flowers abandoned), her other arm assisted her in crawling towards a spot farthest from Tenten and Kankuro. Only a few more paces away, she was forced to stop when she came to the base of another tree.

Without hesitation, she glanced around quickly before beginning to climb up the trunk, remembering the climbing tips she was given from Kiba and Naruto. By the time she reached the first branch, she was panting slightly while taking a look around through the branches and leaves to see if anybody was around. To her chagrin, Sakura and Ino were standing behind another tree not too far from her. If she were to jump down, she would easily be noticed and questioned profusely. Hinata could lie, of course, but it wouldn't do her any good considering lying wasn't exactly a strong talent of hers. She'd rather avoid the scenario altogether.

With that in mind, she made a plan to somehow get to the next tree, and probably the one after that, until she was in the clear to jump or climb down. Although, climbing a tree was one thing—at least she could grip onto something—but jumping from branch to branch, no matter how close they were, was something she wasn't looking forward to. Not only did she have a slight fear of heights (obviously due to the fact that everything looked bigger than it really was at her age), but the idea of being in air without anything to hold onto made her slightly panicked.

Nonetheless, she didn't have a choice and prepared herself to jump from the tree branch she was currently on to the closest tree branch, which belonged to the tree ahead of her. With a few deep breaths to calm herself, she held tightly onto her harp, squinted her eyes, held her breath, and leaped to the next branch, which in reality was only a foot away. She swayed for a few seconds before steadying herself with one hand placed against the trunk of the new tree. With a sigh, she made her way over a few more branches until she had to jump again. Now knowing what to expect, the jump seemed slightly easier than before. Before she knew it, a small smile of victory made its way onto her lips.

"Stop."

Her eyes widened, her smile disappeared, and her entire body froze in its position.

* * *

Ino and Sakura continued to silently giggle and blush from their inconspicuous hiding place behind a large tree. Ahead of them, they watched in excitement at "their" Sasuke training with Master Kakashi. The other boys seemed to be training too, but they weren't in the center of their sight. It was only Sasuke.

It seemed like the two males were oblivious to the two girls watching from afar. Kakashi continued to point out various things wrong with Sasuke's stances, while the dark-haired boy glowered and repeated the same techniques over and over again. Despite his loss against Gaara, the girls didn't seem disheartened in the least. As far as they were concerned, Sasuke _let _Gaara win. He was just that compassionate.

"Hey," A voice called from directly behind them.

Ino and Sakura jumped before turning to see who had interrupted their ogling. "Temari?"

The older blonde stood there with arms crossed over her chest and one eyebrow raised. "Now that I see what you're doin', you probably won't know, but have you guys seen Hina?"

The two looked at each other briefly before Ino spoke up in reply. "Hinata? Well, didn't she say she was gonna go practice in the music room?"

Sakura nodded. "She needed to too. She doesn't play very good."

Temari glared, causing Sakura to wince at her harsh words. "I checked the music room, but she wasn't there. Her harp wasn't there either."

"She prolly wanted to practice outside." The pink-haired girl suggested.  
Temari's hands migrated to her childish hips and her eyes narrowed. "That's what I thought, but I couldn't find her anywhere." Losing interest in asking the two girls for any help, Temari sighed deeply and turned on her heel. "I'll just go ask Tenten."

Ino and Sakura waited until Temari was no longer in their sight before they immediately flipped back around to watch the continuation of Sasuke's training.

They were only slightly disappointed to see that he was not really moving much anymore.

* * *

Hinata had been caught…or so she thought anyway. She had turned to the source of the voice only to find out that it wasn't directed to her. In fact, in the distance, she could see that the voice belonged to Master Kakashi and it was actually directed toward that raven-haired boy…Sasuke. From the looks of it, they were training. Sasuke stayed frozen in his fighting stance, while Kakashi moved towards him slowly. Hinata wasn't positioned too far away, so she was actually able to hear what they were saying, for the most part.

"Did I do it wrong again?" Sasuke's question came out resembling more of a frustrated demand.

"Of course." Kakashi replied calmly as he neared Sasuke and nudged the boy's elbow up by an inch. "There, that ought to do it."

Sasuke growled angrily. "You're gonna make me do this again and again, and then tell me I keep doing it wrong? Just cause my arm wasn't up high enough doesn't mean I didn't get it right! It was just a stupid little small thing! It's not like it'll matter when I face against Itachi."

_Itachi…_Where had she heard that name before? Why did it suddenly sound so familiar? It was just like earlier when she thought that the Sasuke boy seemed familiar too. Her face scrunched up into a thoughtful pout as she tried to recall why it was so familiar.

Kakashi frowned after hearing Sasuke's complaint. Without further incentive, he knelt down in front of Sasuke with the expression of a man who had seen the harsh realities of the world and lived through it. "You're wrong about that, Sasuke. Itachi will not just be like any other demon, or any other opponent for that matter. He is much worse—to the point where every single, small, insignificant detail matters. If you go into a battle with him thinking otherwise, then you'll die."

Sasuke seemed to sober from his tantrum at hearing the fierce words being spoken to him.

As Hinata tried to remember, she too heard every word that Kakashi spoke, and suddenly, images flashed through her mind. Just from hearing the word "demon", she remembered why Itachi had sounded so familiar. _He _was the demon, the one in the meadow, the one who had slaughtered that group of men without getting a scratch on him. She had healed him, and he had spared her.

…_demon standing in the middle of a blood bath…_

"_Should we meet again, I can not guarantee your safety."_

"_M-May I ask y-your name?"_

"_Itachi Uchiha."_

How could she have forgotten that? If that was who Kakashi and Sasuke were talking about, then…At once, Hinata was paying closer attention to the two than before.

Kakashi sighed, relaxing his face to a more solemn expression. "He is not like any other demon I have faced. He is the only one I couldn't kill. I should've been killed by him. Instead, because I wasn't considering every possible detail, he took something from me."

Sasuke straightened himself and regarded the gray-haired man with a hint of grave curiosity. "Like what?"

From her angle, Hinata couldn't see what Kakashi was doing exactly. He was reaching to remove that cloth he always wore over one of his eyes. Not being able to see it herself, she instead turned to gaze at Sasuke's expression, which had morphed into a disgusted shock.

Replacing his personally made eye cover, Kakashi stared at Sasuke seriously. "He took away half my sight. Do you understand now, Sasuke? Every detail matters."

Gulping unnoticeably, the boy nodded.

Just like quicksilver, Kakashi's expression turned into a small smile while he patted the young Uchiha's head. "Good. Now, I believe dinner will be served shortly. Shall we get moving?"

Hinata didn't even stay to watch the two males leave. Rather, all she could do was lean back on her heels and stare ahead of her blankly. She couldn't stop thinking about how close to death she truly was that day in the meadow. The only reason she had escaped alive was because he let her go in return for healing him. Although…she also realized that he could've easily killed her without a second thought. Judging by what Master Kakashi said, Itachi was a brutal and ruthless demon. And she had been not an inch away from his touch!

"Hey Hinata, what are you doing up there?"

Gasping loudly and jumping in fright, Hinata didn't even have time to scream before her balance was lost and she began to fall from the tall tree branch. Quickly, she closed her eyes to brace herself for the impact.

She collided with something that made her lose her breath for an instant before everything settled around her, gravity included. Her eyes were still painfully squeezed shut, but she was able to ascertain that something had cushioned her fall and there was more than just one pair of arms and hands around her small frame.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, why did you just fall like that?"

A laugh. "That's not how you're s'posed to get down from trees."

Strangely, none of the voices were coming from whoever it was who "caught" her when she fell. Peeking her eyes open, she first caught sight of a grinning Naruto and Kiba with Shino standing off to her side. They were all supporting some part of her before helping her stand up on her own. Luckily, her harp hadn't left the sanctuary of her arms.

"So, why'd you just fall down?" Naruto repeated his earlier question with brows raised.

Kiba laughed again and patted her shoulder. "We'll teach you how to get down from trees the right way, okay?"

Shino sighed imperceptibly. "Are you hurt, Hinata?"

She shook her head mutely. "No, I'm sorry. You surprised me, so, um…I lost my balance."

"Well, what would you go and do that for?" Naruto was still perplexed until a hand hit him upside the head.

Kiba frowned at his blue-eyed friend. "You idiot! You were the one who surprised her, so it's your fault she fell!"

"Huh? Oh, heh…" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry about that, Hinata."

"It's alright…" She smiled weakly. "Um, thank you…for catching me."

Now it was Kiba's turn to rub the back of his head in slight shame. "Actually, it wasn't us who caught you. Gaara did."

Hinata blinked. _Gaara…? _She turned around to face the red-haired boy standing directly behind her with a typical expressionless face. Feeling uncomfortable under his intense gaze, she glanced down at her feet in embarrassment. "Uh…thank you, Gaara."

"Hm," He nodded briefly.

When she met his gaze, she smiled warmly.

"There you are, Hina!" Temari yelled from across the way while running in her direction. "I found her, Miss Kurenai!"

Before Hinata knew it, she was being embraced by the older girl and the other girls, along with Kurenai, were standing around her.

Kurenai smiled. "Where'd you run off to, Hinata? You had Temari here running all over the place looking for you."

Temari glared down at Hinata. "Yeah, where'd you go?"

"Um, well…"

"She was climbing trees, duh." Kiba answered for her.

Ino and Sakura glanced over Hinata's dirty and tattered gown. "I can tell."

Sakura nodded, scrunching up her nose. "What's so great about climbing trees? You only get dirty."

Tenten was giggling. "If you were gonna climb trees, you shoulda told me, Hinata. I woulda joined ya."

"Why didn't you tell me you were going off somewhere?" Temari persisted, not liking the feeling of losing her "little sister".

"I'm sorry." Hinata timidly answered before anymore bickering could ensue.

"Okay, that's enough." Kurenai interrupted. "You girls go on and head to the dining hall. You boys should go too. Oh, and Hinata?"

"Yes, Miss Kurenai?"

The older woman smiled in a motherly fashion. "Why don't you go get yourself cleaned up and then meet us in the dining hall, okay?"

Hinata nodded in understanding and took off with the rest of the group, heading towards the temple.

Kurenai's smile faded the further the children ran from her. Her red eyes couldn't help but follow the back of the smallest girl there, the dark-haired Hinata. "Climbing trees, hm? With a harp no less…"

* * *

Early the next morning, a visitor of great importance arrived at the Divine Temple.

An audible rapping on solid wood woke Tsunade from her mid-morning nap. Jolting up straight, expression clearly drowsy, and wiping drool from her chin, she blearily gazed at who was standing at her office door.

Kakashi merely raised a brow with his fist still resting against the wooden door. "Lady Tsunade,"

"Yes, what is it?" She yawned tiredly, while stretching her arms above her head.

The gray-haired man stood straight. "Lord Jiraiya wanted me to come get you. Apparently, you have a visitor."

It was her turn to raise a brow. "Who…?"

"The village leader." Was his simple reply.

Her brown eyes widened just before she stood and began to walk hurriedly toward the doorway. "Where are they?"

"In the east library. Now, if you don't mind, I need to get back to Sasuke."

"Hm," She was barely paying attention before she disappeared around a corner.

--

The blonde woman entered the room, panting silently from the run. Upon entering the library, she was immediately greeted. "Well, well. Hello there, princess Tsunade."

Standing next to the very amused Jiraiya was an elderly man with a kind, wrinkled face. Tsunade gave him a small smile as she bowed in respect. "Master Sarutobi,"

The man laughed and approached his former student with an affectionate smile. He placed his seemingly fragile hands on her shoulders, signaling for her to stand erect again. When her eyes met his, he chuckled again. "Always so respectful—"

"Only to you." Jiraiya muttered quietly.

Sarutobi continued. "You're more like your grandfather than you may think."

She couldn't help averting her eyes when reminded of her grandfather, one of the early leaders of Konoha. She was also further reminded of her grandmother, who just happened to be a deity once upon a time. Both had died during a gruesome battle with the infamous demon leader and a small group of other powerful demons.

"Lord Sarutobi," Jiraiya interrupted with a surprisingly serious face. "Shall we get down to business?"

The older man glanced back to his other former student before sighing tiredly. "If we must, but," he raised a crooked finger. "On the condition that you two will stop referring to me as such."

Jiraiya chuckled and seated himself lazily on a chair next to a table, which was positioned in front of a shelf of books. "Sorry, but it's become a habit since you first became leader. It can't be helped."

Lord Sarutobi sighed again as he took his place in a chair not far from the other male. "So be it."

Following the two men, Tsunade graced herself into the seat by Jiraiya. A moment of silence passed over the room, indicating that trivial greetings were over with.

It was the village leader who spoke first with his fingers interlaced in his lap. "So…On what pretense have you called me here?"

Jiraiya and Tsunade exchanged a quick glance before it was the Matriarch who answered. "We took in a young boy not too long ago. He was found by some traveling merchants, who brought him here."

The village leader's face brightened in recognition. "Ah, I remember hearing about that. I was the one who ordered that the boy be brought to you." He was smiling warmly. "How's he doing?"

Ignoring the question, Jiraiya inched forward in his chair. "Did you ever see the boy yourself?"

Lord Sarutobi blinked a few times before knotting his brows together, creating a few creases on his forehead. "No, I did not. I was told he was injured, so I sent him directly to you. Why? Is there a problem?"

"Nothing we can't handle." The Patriarch smirked.

Tsunade rolled her eyes before elaborating. "As infantile as Jiraiya is, he's right that it's not too big of an issue. We just thought you'd need to know that the boy is in fact a half-demon."

It took a few minutes while the leader composed his features into stoicism. "You don't say…Another one, huh? It almost seems like Konoha is attracting their kind."

"They _are _just boys." Tsunade clarified, insinuating that she was not just talking about Sasuke, but Naruto and Gaara as well. "Naruto is a half-demon, too, but after staying here, he has become fiercely loyal to our village."

The Lord's lips twitched upward for a moment. "I know…and I also know that Gaara is as well, but it's hard to say that for this…new boy."

"True enough, sir, but he will be trained just like the other boys have." She continued. "In fact, he's being trained under Kakashi especially."

"I see…" He seemed to be thinking until he finally stood up, causing the other two to stand up quickly. "I'd like to see him."

"Very well." Jiraiya nodded. "Follow us, if you don't mind."

--

Through a very large window in the middle of one of the hallways, the three peered outside of it out into the courtyard, where Kakashi was obviously doing drills with a young, dark-haired boy. "That would be Sasuke." Jiraiya motioned.

"Hm…" Lord Sarutobi trained his gaze solely onto the boy. "He doesn't appear injured anymore. I suppose that's a good sign."

Tsunade nodded. "Like Gaara and Naruto, he's also a very speedy healer."

"Speaking of healer, I'd also like to see how that last deity is doing. I don't believe I've met her yet."

"Hinata," Tsunade acknowledged. "We'll take you to her afterwards."

The older man nodded before staring grimly at the boy once again. "He fights well for his age and assumed inexperience."

"Kakashi's been training him for hours on end. The boy simply won't stop unless he's knocked out." Jiraiya chuckled humorously. "He reminds me of Naruto in a way."

"Mm," The village leader rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, the boy, Sasuke, seems like he'll fit in well here. If there are any problems, you'll let me know, I'm sure."

"Of course we will." Tsunade agreed before looking away hesitantly in a nervous manner. "There's…also something else you need to know about this half-demon."

"Oh? And what is that?" Lord Sarutobi raised a brow expectantly.

Tsunade motioned for Jiraiya to explain, which he complied almost reluctantly. "As it turns out, Sasuke here is not only a half-demon, but an Uchiha as well."

For a brief moment, the elder's eyes widened. "Uchiha…" A deep breath later, he was seemingly more calm. "An Uchiha half-demon…I didn't know such a thing could happen."

"Well, apparently, it did." Tsunade sighed. "I'd wager a lot of money saying that he's the only one, seeing as how Uchiha's are usually known for taking great pride in their pure demon blood."

"I see."

"That's not all though." Jiraiya's smile turned wry. "Want to hear the best part?" He chuckled dryly. "As if being an Uchiha isn't bad enough, he just happens to be related to Itachi Uchiha."

The Lord froze at the name before turning to the other two with wary eyes. "How?"

Tsunade licked her lips. "They're half-brothers."

"That close…" His jaw clenched. "Then tell me, based on that…His loyalties—where do they lie?"

"With himself at the moment." The blonde seemed slightly agitated at the fact.

"Why's that? You don't think he'll side with the demons or his own bloodline, do you?"

She shook her head once. "He was wronged by a demon, so I doubt it."

"What happened?"

"From what he told us, his family…his entire village was massacred by a demon…Itachi, no less."

Jiraiya spoke. "It appears that Itachi's as much an enemy to him as he is to the rest of us. That would make little Sasuke here our ally. After all, it's his life goal to kill his older brother and avenge his fallen family."

"Is that right…" Slowly, a wrinkled smile formed on the old man's lips. "Well, there's nothing left to say then…I'm sure he'll be a grand addition to our village and to the temple. Train him well."

Jiraiya and Tsunade nodded simultaneously. "Yes, sir."

Lord Sarutobi's smile widened suddenly. "Now, take me to the deities. I need to meet the last one, and those other girls always put a smile on this old man's face."

* * *

"Lord Sarutobi!" Ino and Sakura exclaimed simultaneously as they jumped into his arms for a tight embrace. Tenten ran over as well but stood behind the two girls.

The older man laughed even while he lowered the girls back to the ground. "It's good to see you too, girls."

Anko stood off to the side, feeling slightly perturbed at having her lesson interrupted, but smiled nonetheless at seeing the village leader.

From a little further back, Hinata stared on curiously, wondering whom the man was. Her wondering stopped short when Temari grabbed her hand with a smile and a small laugh. "Come on, Hina."

In only a few seconds, Hinata was led to stand next to the other girls. Out of bashfulness, she hid most of her body behind her older blonde friend.

The Lord knelt down to be eye level with the young girls, and his eyes seemed to twinkle in joy. "Ino, Sakura, look how you two have grown!" He glanced over them at a familiar brunette. "And Tenten, you've gotten taller than I remember."

She stood straighter and placed her hands on her hips proudly. "Yup! I'll be taller than you one day, my Lord."

"No doubt." He chuckled and glanced around the girls once more until he spotted Temari.

The oldest girl smiled slyly. "Hey, gramps."

Sarutobi stood up and approached her. "You're looking more like a woman every time I see you."

She laughed. "You're such a liar. I don't even have boobs yet."

He patted her head. "That will come soon, I'm sure." He continued to keep his hand atop her head until he noticed a dark-haired head peek out from behind Temari. "Hm? Who's this?"

"Oh," Temari smiled again as she pushed Hinata out in front of her. "This is Hinata, the last deity."

"Hinata, eh?" He knelt down again and smiled in reassurance. "Hello, Hinata. I'm Lord Sarutobi, the leader of this village. I've heard a lot about you."

Hinata tilted her head in curiosity. "Y-You have?"

"Yes, of course," He laughed. "You're the village's healer. It seems like your power suits you perfectly." He watched her blush and lower her gaze, causing him to laugh again and pat her head affectionately.

"Hey, old man!" A voice called out from afar.

Everyone turned to look over only to see all the boys coming over with their masters following. Naruto was in front of the group, waving his arms with a slight pouty frown on his face. By the time Naruto stood in front of the leader, he was already pointing at him with his other hand perched on his hip. "Why are _you _here?"

Lord Sarutobi stood up straight and stared down at Naruto sternly, one eyebrow raised. "Not happy to see me, Naruto?"

"No," he crossed his arms. "When you come, you only cause trouble."

"Oh, really." His eyes held an amused glint. "The only troublemaker I see around here is you."

"What!" The blonde's exclamation was stopped before he could say anymore, for Temari had come over and hit him upside the head.

"Knock it off, Naruto."

"Ow, Temari! What'd you do that for?"

"You're being annoying."

Hinata watched all the goings on from afar with an almost incredulous expression.

"That's Lord Sarutobi. Have you met him yet?" Neji suddenly spoke from right next to her.

The small girl jumped before offering him a surprised, yet timid, smile. "Yup." She replied.

Neji only nodded. "He comes here once in awhile, but not a lot."

"Oh…" Hinata turned back to Naruto bickering with the leader, and Temari trying to intervene. With a shaky smile, she faced Neji. "Um…Won't Naruto get in trouble for talking like that to Lord Sarutobi?"

Neji cracked a crooked smile. "Not really. It's always like this."

"Really?" She was shocked.

Neji nodded again before his smile widened and he grasped Hinata's hand in his. "Come on. Let's go sit down."

Before Hinata could even reply, she was being led over to a bench nearby.

--

With most of the boys surrounding the Lord, Kakashi stood near them and upon meeting the older man's accusing eyes, he chuckled and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry about this. When I was telling Asuma and Gai about your arrival, I wasn't aware that there were eavesdroppers." He frowned over at Naruto, Kiba, and Lee. "They insisted on coming over to see you."

Lord Sarutobi nodded. "That's quite alright. I would've wanted to see them before I left anyway."

Ino pouted. "You're not going away soon, are you?"

Sakura nodded. "You're gonna stay for lunch, aren't you, my Lord?"

He smiled gently at the two girls. "I would love to, but I can't. I, unfortunately, have a lot of business to take care of today." He watched the girls pout even more, so he tried to give them a reassuring smile. "Not to worry. I'll make time to come see you all again. But, before I go…" He trailed his eyes over to the dark-haired little boy standing near Kakashi.

Sasuke stood there with his arms crossed over his small chest, with a glare on his features. The glare became wary when the older man knelt in front of him.

"So, you're Sasuke."

"Yeah," Sasuke's black eyes narrowed. "Why do you care?"

Kakashi frowned down at him. "Sasuke, be respectful. This is—"

"The village leader, I know." The little boy rolled his eyes. "So what? He's not _my _leader."

Naruto, hearing the exchange, stomped over to Sasuke and pointed right in his face. "Stop being a jerk, you jerk!"

Scowling at the blonde, Sasuke turned to him. "Shut up, idiot."

"What'd you call me?"

Both Kakashi and Sarutobi rolled their eyes at the oncoming argument. Tuning them out, the Lord stood next to Kakashi with a noticeable frown on the old man's face. "He resembles him, doesn't he?"

Kakashi nodded solemnly. "It's not hard to see that they're brothers, albeit only half."

It was silent until Lord Sarutobi spoke again. "Will he be trouble?"

Kakashi's brows pulled together before he eventually shook his head. "I don't think so. If so, it's nothing I can't handle."

In the background, they could still hear the continued arguing between the two boys.

"_Jerk!"_

"_Idiot!"_

"_Butthead!"_

"_Loser!"_

"Not to mention," The leader chuckled, taking notice of the heated argument between Sasuke and Naruto. "If all else fails, Naruto can keep him in line."

Kakashi chuckled as well. "Those two will form a very strange friendship."

"Agreed."

"Lord Sarutobi," Jiraiya spoke as he and Tsunade approached him.

The older man sighed. "I know, I know."

Without pause, he faced the group of children, bidding them farewell.

A few more hugs later, the children watched the older man be escorted away.

As soon as he was out of sight, Anko turned to the girls with a smirk bordering on wicked. "Alright, girls, back to work!"

Likewise, the masters gave their orders to the boys to continue their training as well.

Hearing this, Neji and Hinata glanced at each other. The male Hyuga smiled slightly. "I guess I'll see you at lunch."

Hinata nodded. "And tonight, too, before we go to bed."

Neji's brows furrowed. "What?"

Suddenly, she was blushing and poking her forefingers together nervously. "Well, um, Miss Kurenai said that we're doing a song for tonight for everybody."

"Really?" Neji was smiling again.

Gai's voice interrupted whatever Hinata was going to reply with. "Neji! Let's get a move on! Be youthful about it, boy!"

With a roll of his eyes, Neji offered Hinata a quick smile before turning on his heels to leave. "I'll come watch you then." With that said, he ran over to join the other boys.

"Hinata!" Anko shouted over to her. "Get your little butt over here!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Once all five girls were standing before her, Anko gave out her orders. "Okay, Temari and Ino, I want you two to work together today. Since Temari knows how to block her mind, Ino, I want you to work on getting past that. Sakura, Tenten, you two will work together. Tenten, try forging your weapons to be unbreakable. Sakura will use her strength to test it. And Hinata, come with me. I have a lot of work for you to do. It's another day of testing your limits. Let's see if we can boost your stamina." Anko paused. "Everyone know what to do? Good. We're not stopping until lunch, so you better work hard!"

* * *

**_A Few Hours Later…_**

Lord Sarutobi worked moderately well on the paperwork in front of him. As he sat at his desk in his office, he came to the realization that the paperwork would never be completed. No matter how much he finished, there would always be piles more. With a sigh, he muttered to himself, wondering why he agreed to be the village leader in the first place.

His depressing reverie was cut short when a sharp knock sounded at his office door. Without even looking up, he spoke out, "Come in."

A woman peeked her head around the now open door, and smiled warily at her leader. "My Lord, someone is here to see you."

"Who is it?" He still hadn't looked up from his work.

"It's General Katsutoshi, sir."

A large smile lit his features as he stood and walked around his desk. "Well? Let him in, let him in!"

"Uh, yes, sir!" No sooner did she reply before she disappeared, only for the door to open again a minute later.

The Lord watched gleefully as his most trusted General entered the office with an older boy, who looked about fifteen, trailing behind him. Without any warning, the Lord walked over to him and wrapped his arms around the younger General. "Good to see you, Katsutoshi."

"You, too, my Lord." The General was a light-haired man with equally light blue eyes. His features were pale, which added onto just how "light" he looked. Even his smile was bright and cheery—not equal to Naruto's though.

Sarutobi smiled and glanced at the young man, who also shared the same light hair and features as the General's. The only difference between the two was their eye color. The leader held out his hand to the boy. "And you are?"

The boy hesitantly returned the handshake with a polite smile. "My name is Yukio, sir."

The General nodded proudly. "This is my son."

"Ah," Lord Sarutobi stepped back a few steps. "He almost looks exactly like you, except for…"

"The eyes, yes…" Katsutoshi nodded. "He gets his eyes from his mother."

"I see. Lucky boy…"

"Hn, he's also quite bright and tactful for his age. Wise beyond his years, he is."

The Lord chuckled. "Sounds like he'd make a great advisor." He directed his gaze to the boy. "If you're interested in that kind of work, I'd like to take you on board as one of my advisors-in-training and see how you do. I trust your father's words, so if you're as wise as he says you are, you could make quite a nice addition."

Yukio smiled widely. "I'd like that very much, sir."

"Good, we'll work it out later, then." He turned to look at his general again. "So, I'm guessing you didn't come to visit me for old time's sake?"

Katsutoshi smiled sadly while lowering his head. "I'm afraid not, sir. Actually, I've come to report that my squadron is ready to depart."

Sarutobi nodded solemnly. "Heading over to that massacred village, huh?"

"Yes, sir. The one that was destroyed by that demon not too long ago. Since it's been awhile since then, the demon should be nowhere near that area anymore. We're going to do as much as we can."

"Of course." He sighed deeply. "And how many is in your squadron?"

Katsutoshi licked his lips and turned his head briefly to the side. "Fifteen warriors, sir, not including my wife and I."

The Lord's brows furrowed worriedly. "That's it? And what of your boy?"

"He will be staying here, and…that amount should be enough. I'm taking the best of the best, and not to mention, some of our allied villages are sending out squadrons of their own to help as well."

"I know that." Sarutobi sighed again. "Just come back safely, hm?"

"Of course, my Lord."

"All right…" A smile fell upon the old man's lips again as he eyed the young boy. "Looks like we're getting left behind. That's okay, though. You'll be an advisor by the time your parents return."

Yukio smiled again. "Yes, sir."

The Lord talked with his general for awhile longer before dismissing them. As they departed, Sarutobi couldn't help but wonder about his newest decision about adding on a new advisor. The boy was young, but he would change the current stereotype of his current advisors, being that they were mainly old and traditionalists.

"Hmm…" He murmured, contemplating about Yukio, the young boy with the strikingly green eyes.

* * *

**Hm, I was going to add an ItaHina scene on the end, but I think I'll just add that to the beginning of the next chapter. That way, most of the next chapter will be mainly comprised of ItaHina, and yes, they will interact this time. Bonus points to those who actually remember why "strikingly green eyes" is so significant to the story.**

**Anyway, I'll start working on the next chapter right away. Thank you for those who actually stayed loyal to this story, and a special thank you for those who actually take the time to review. You guys are the best!**

**Thanks again!**

**For questions and update information, check my livejournal account. The link is on my profile page.**


	9. Meadow

**Author Note: **Here's the next chapter. Be sure to read the ending note.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Age Reminder: **The kids are mostly seven years old. Only Neji, Tenten, and Lee are 8, Kankuro is 9, and Temari is 10.

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter VIII**

**Meadow**

* * *

"_Attack is the best form of defense."_

_-Proverb quotes_

"_Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy."_

_-William Shakespeare_

* * *

Hinata's training had been difficult after the village leader left. When Anko said she was going to work on stamina, she definitely meant it. By the time lunch came around, Hinata was exhausted, and judging by the other girls' looks, she wasn't the only one. She could only hope that at least some progress was made.

Lunch went by quickly, and the food was enjoyed by all those who had trained hard. Finally been given a break from training and studies, Hinata was filled with excited energy at the prospect of going to visit the meadow; especially since she wanted a little more practice with her harp. Kurenai had told her and the girls that they were going to perform the song they had been working on for the others that evening. That filled Hinata with a nervous anxiety, and it only increased with the knowledge that Neji was going to be there too.

Shaking away her feelings of dread, Hinata made a quick trip to the music room to grab her harp before heading out to the gardens to find that certain bush.

By the time she reached the gardens, she could clearly see that certain point as if it was all she could see. She should've been paying more attention.

"Hina!"

On cue, Hinata halted and turned to watch Temari run to catch up to her. Her heartbeat rapidly increased, hoping she wouldn't be caught.

Temari caught up to her with a smile. "Hey, where ya goin'?"

"Um," She lowered her gaze. "Just to the gardens…to practice my harp." As long as she avoided eye contact, her half-lie wouldn't be discovered.

"Alone?" Temari's brows furrowed in concern.

"Uh huh…"

"Oh…Well, I'll go with you."

"No, um…" Hinata was flushing. "Y-You don't have to…"

"I want to." Temari replied, stopping any chance at Hinata escaping. "Plus, you shouldn't be going off alone. You have friends, you know."

"I…I know." Hinata lowered her gaze again in defeat. It seemed like she wasn't going to be able to visit the meadow that day.

"You know, Hina," Temari brought her hand up to cradle her chin in thought. "You're already really good at that song. We should go play instead."

"Play?"

"Yup. The boys have free time too," She smiled slyly. "And I bet Neji wants to play with you really, really bad."

"R-Really?" Hinata couldn't help but blush shyly.

Temari laughed and grasped onto her hand. "Come on, let's go!"

* * *

He hadn't heard any music, but he still found himself walking towards that certain meadow, with the pure intention to kill that girl, he told himself. No, he contradicted, it was because she was something interesting in his dull, repetitive life.

Whatever the reason, he soon saw the break in the trees that led to the large opening. He half expected to hear some humming like usual, but that was absent as well. Taking a step forward, he glanced searchingly throughout the meadow, only to find it utterly empty of human life.

He frowned in annoyance and grunted with irritation. She was supposed to be there. Itachi contemplated on whether to sit and wait or not, and quickly decided against it. She would come back; it was only a matter of time.

Turning on his heel, he stalked back towards his cave, only to halt halfway there at smelling a distinct _stench _in the air. His eyes narrowed after smelling something else, slightly more faint. _Humans…and in the distance, a pack of wolves. How annoying…another problem I have to get rid of._

Walking forward with a begrudging determination, Itachi followed the scent of the multiple humans. Lucky for them, he was actually in a bad enough mood to kill them quickly. He planned to start with the last group and move his way up. Judging by his senses, they must've been heading towards the village he had destroyed not too long ago. It was there that the scent of wolves originated.

He supposed he could let the humans in the front deal with the wolves before _he _got to them. It was going to be another day of necessary bloodshed.

After all, he couldn't allow humans to get so close to his territory.

If there were any left, he'd kill the wolves because they were just as annoying. First, though, he had to go back to his cave to get his sword, for he hadn't used it in awhile.

Perhaps it was a good thing that the little deity didn't come that day.

* * *

They had been the first squad to arrive at the massacred village, and it truly was by all means.

There was no fire still going, as they had expected; in fact, it didn't appear as if anything at all was burned in the first place. The small village resembled a ghost town, abandoned of all life. Whatever demon attacked the village appeared to be a silent killer.

Yet, there were bodies littering the grounds, proving that they weren't silently killed in their beds. The village people had been awake when the attack came, and none were left alive, save for the little boy that the Lord had told the squadron about.

Blood spotted the ground, even though it was dried. Most bodies were dismembered, proving that it was a very gruesome sight. One of the warriors there plugged his nose in disgust. "Heh. Nothing like the stench of a rotting corpse, huh?"

"Watch it," A blonde man warned angrily. "Have some respect."

"Sorry, sir."

Despite the stench, all the members of the squadron couldn't look away from the frozen looks of fear on each person's lifeless face.

The tall blonde man up front, himself, couldn't look away anymore than the others could. He suddenly felt a hand grasp onto his sleeve.

"Katsu—"

"I know." He glanced briefly to his side at the dark-haired, green-eyed woman next to him. She was dressed in less armor than he, but a warrior nonetheless. She was his wife and had seen bloodshed before, but as a mother, the slaughtered children became almost too much. In a slightly louder voice, he spoke. "I think what's so unnerving about this is that this village is the closest village to our own. The demons seem to enjoy skirting around our borders, as if always warning and threatening us."

"We have nothing to worry about, sir." A fellow warrior said with confidence. "Our village is protected by the barrier, and we have the goddess to thank for that. No demon could ever penetrate our borders."

"Even if they could," another spoke up. "It's not like we would become vulnerable. We have the deities on our side to protect the village, and the entire Divine Temple, too, no less."

One warrior laughed. "If they wanted to destroy us, the whole demon population would have to attack, and that's _if _they miraculously find a way to get through our barrier."

"That's enough." The general called out. "The other allied squadrons should be here shortly. Fan out and search for any survivors first." He sighed. "Then we will bury the dead."

"General Katsutoshi!" One warrior alerted him. "There's movement up ahead."

"What?" The general glanced to where the warrior pointed, and squinted his eyes in inquiry.

The same warrior sprinted ahead. "It might be a survivor!"

"No!" All too quickly, the general halted the man by grabbing onto his shoulder. "Use your eyes! It may be moving, but it is not human. Look closely before you make a fool of yourself."

"Uh, yes, sir. Sorry, general."

Katsutoshi sighed before joining the others in observing what the movement was. It was a good distance away from them, down the dirt street, and coming out of a house, which made it almost indistinguishable.

It appeared to be short in height, but fairly large in length and size. It was seemingly dark-colored as well, almost black. It wasn't until half of its body came out of the house before it was recognized.

The long tail gave it away almost.

The general's wife stepped forward in surprise. "It…It's a wolf…probably scrounging around for food."

"A lone wolf?" Katsutoshi muttered skeptically.

"Highly doubtful, sir, considering the majority of wolves in this area are included in some type of pack."

"Hm…"

Sure enough, it became easier to see just how right that warrior was. The dark wolf finally exited the house, but it seemed to be dragging a corpse with it, with the instinctive intention to feast off of the remains. It stopped before digging its teeth into the rotting flesh, and raised its muzzle to sniff the air. Not a second passed before its eyes found the group of warriors, an obvious threat.

Without hesitation, the wolf howled loudly into the air. Soon enough, other wolves began to exit various places and emerge onto the street. They all stared at the human squadron with unease, indicative by their furious growls. That was just as obvious as the blood dripping from their predatory jaws. It also became obvious that some of them were ready to pounce at the first move by the humans.

"What do you want to do, Katsu?" his wife questioned, returning her expression to that of a true warrior.

"Hm…" His hand fell to wrap around the hilt of his sword. "Chase them off if you can. If not, get rid of them in any way you see fit. We will not allow any fellow humans to be disrespected like this. They deserve a proper burial, not be considered animal food." He paused shortly. "Go now, and be on your guard."

"Yes, sir!"

Katsutoshi stayed back as he watched his squadron take care of the wolf pack. Few ran away safely, even fewer got away with injuries, but most were killed by the warriors.

"Katsu," his wife approached him. "It's been taken care of for the most part. The others are taking down the last couple of wolves."

"Good." He nodded. Katsutoshi's brow quirked, though, when he saw her glance past his shoulder curiously.

"Who's that?"

"Hm?" He turned around to face the forest, only to see a shadowed figure coming towards them.

"Is it a scout for the other squadrons?"

Something tugged at his mind in warning. "I wasn't aware the other squadrons had a scout, much less need one." Something was off. In his gut, something seemed very dangerous.

"Katsu?"

He didn't move, and his eyes didn't blink once as he apprehensively watched the figure come closer and closer.

"Katsu, what's wrong?"

Finally, as if in slow motion, the figure broke through the trees, allowing the sun to light his features.

"Answer me, Katsutoshi! What is—" When her eyes fell upon the figure, she gasped in fear.

The figure stood there, black hair falling partly over his distinctive red eyes, his body covered and hidden inside his black cape. He held onto his sword almost lazily, but the blade and his hands…they were drenched and dripping blood. As black as his cloak was, the splatters of even more blood were visible on the cloth. Blood smeared on his face as well, a perfect imitation of the color of his eyes…his demonic eyes.

That's what he was, "A demon…"

"K-Katsu—"

General Katsutoshi drew his sword, and lowered himself into a fighting stance. Without even a brief glance to his wife, he whispered harshly and sternly only one final word.

"Run."

* * *

As soon as dinner ended that night, everyone was led into the music room to watch the deities' performance. It was their first time performing, and they were admittedly nervous.

Within the room, chairs were set up in one area for the viewers to sit. The chairs were facing the side of the room where the wall of windows was, even though only the full moon was shining through.

Separating the viewers from the windows was the deities. Hinata was sitting on a chair with her small harp resting on her lap, her fingers at the ready. On one side of her stood Ino, flute in hand, and on the other side was Sakura, violin placed near her neck already. In front of those three was Temari and Tenten, each stretching before they had to begin. While Tenten held a long, light-weight spear as a dancing prop, Temari had two simple fans.

In the front seats sat the group of boys, minus Sasuke who was leaning against the back wall next to Kakashi. Other than those two, all the others occupied the remainder of chairs. Jiraiya and Tsunade sat in the back with Shizune and Anko. In the seats in front of them sat Gai, Asuma, and Kurenai respectively.

Each waited for the performance to begin.

When the girls seemed ready, Kurenai nodded to them, and the music started.

They all played the same song (1), and it all flowed evenly. Hinata began with playing her tune, Sakura joining in after before stopping, allowing Ino to play as well. After mere seconds, all were playing together, creating a harmonious tune. Temari and Tenten danced in just as much synchronization as the other three girls played their instruments. For as young as they were, the music came out perfectly, much to the surprise of everyone else.

It was elegant and beautiful…just the way it was supposed to be. The amazement was clearly written on each person's face.

Unlike the others, Neji could only keep his eyes solely on Hinata with a small smile on his young face.

In return, the one time Hinata glanced at their audience, she met Neji's gaze and smiled timidly, her cheeks reddening in embarrassment. For the rest of the song, Neji and Hinata continued to exchange glances, while trying to hide occasional smiles and giggles.

--

Under the same moonlight and halfway submerged in water, Itachi washed himself of the human blood caked onto his skin. Stepping within the heavy spray of the waterfall, his loose, wet hair cascaded down his lean muscular back.

Backing away, he closed his eyes and tilted his face up towards the moon, inhaling the night air deeply.

A lilting tune carried passed his ears on a breeze, which wouldn't have been heard by anything other than a demon. At the familiar sound of a harp, which he picked out over the other sounds of instruments, his red eyes slowly opened. He closed his eyes again and concentrated on the harp-playing only.

* * *

**_The Next Day…_**

Hinata was actually thankful that Temari was busy as soon as lunch ended. Apparently, she was going to see Gaara or something, and Tenten tagged along saying that there was something she wanted to tease Kankuro about. Ino and Sakura spent their free time doing what they had been doing for awhile—stalking Sasuke.

Seeing that she was left alone, Hinata stole the opportunity to sneak away with her harp tucked under her arm. With a smile etched on her face, she crawled through the bush, along with the crevice in the wall as well.

It only took a few visits, but Hinata was finally getting used to the dark dreariness of the forest. She was still cautious, mind you, but not as frightened anymore. She wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad sign.

Upon entering into the familiar meadow, she stopped in surprise, causing her eyes to widen and her hand to cover her mouth, muffling her gasp. Withdrawing into herself, she peeked from behind a nearby tree at what was occupying her meadow.

She had never seen one before, personally, but because she had seen pictures and heard stories, she was able to identify the creature as a wolf. In her eyes, it was a beautiful wolf, too. It was stormy gray in color and quite large, compared to her. She wasn't sure if it was a male or female, but that didn't matter at the time.

All she could do at the moment was watch intently as it lounged on the ground, continually licking a certain area of its foreleg. It wasn't until she heard its whine of pain that she understand _why _it was licking that certain area.

The wolf was injured.

Despite knowing how dangerous the wolf could be, Hinata stepped forward and gulped. With a hidden determination, she took little steps toward it, internally desiring to heal the poor animal. Surely, it had to be in a lot of pain and wouldn't mind allowing her to come close to help…right?

--

As soon as he had caught her scent in the breeze, he took fast-paced steps until he finally reached the outskirts of the meadow. He wasn't hearing any music or humming yet, and after glancing around, he realized why that was.

His eyes narrowed at seeing one of the injured wolves taking up space among the flowers. The remaining wolves should've been cleared out of his territory, and he assumed most of them did. By the looks of it, one of them had been so badly injured that it was left behind. The gray wolf was definitely injured; so much so that it didn't appear as if it could even walk, which explained why it was lounging on the ground pathetically. The largest wound seemed to be in its foreleg, and there were minor wounds along the rest of its body. Nonetheless, wolves were fierce creatures, especially when they were vulnerable.

With that last thought in mind, Itachi trailed his eyes over to the deity, who was hiding pitifully behind one of the trees. Her attention was solely on the wolf, which he was partially at ease about. His eyes narrowed further when he saw that her eyes seemed to flash with a new strength, and her feet began to lead her forward.

A strange surge of anger swept through his body. _That fool. What is she thinking? Does she want to die? _He knew that wasn't the case. He knew that her only intention was to heal the dangerous wolf, just as she had healed him. Did she think that just because she lived through healing a demon, that there would be no threat to her if she healed a wolf? _If she wants to die, then so be it._

Absently, the three, black, comma-like pupils in his red eyes began to spin rapidly like they would before he planned on killing something…

Unconsciously, his body seemed to tense in preparation.

--

Hinata set her harp down on the ground before continuing her slow walk towards the injured creature. Her hands wrung her gown fabric between her fingers, and she gulped loudly before her lips started to shake nervously. The wolf suddenly looked up and met eyes with her, causing Hinata to freeze in her position. When he started growling warningly, her whole body began to tremble slightly.

Building up her courage, she forced herself to walk further, while the growling heightened in volume. When she was about a few feet from the animal, the growling grew in intensity, followed by a few warning barks. The wolf's teeth were bared, showing off its dangerous fangs, and its golden eyes glinted severely.

Hinata jumped at the loud barks, but continued to inch forward, trying to come off as something non-threatening. "Um, it-it's okay…I promise I won't hurt you…I…I-I just want to help…please?"

The snarling continued, even up until Hinata was kneeling in front of the wolf. She could see that it desired to stand, but any movement caused a whine to emit from its throat, signaling that it was too painful to do anything but growl and bark. Hinata's white eyes located the deep gash on its foreleg and proceeded to slowly move her hand toward it. Her eyes flickered between her hand and the animal's face in wariness.

Another inch of movement and she screamed shortly before silencing herself as tears broke free from her eyes. Cracking them open, she saw that the wolf had bit into her forearm, and didn't release. She saw dribbles of blood streaming from the wounds its teeth were making, but that wasn't what bothered her; it was the pain. It stung greatly, and she had never felt such pain before in her short life.

Gulping and attempting to ignore the pain, she used the wolf's distraction as an opportunity to heal its leg. Since her arm was incapacitated, she moved her other arm forward until her hand hovered above the deep wound belonging to the wolf. She watched through blurred eyesight as her hands glowed and the wolf's wound began to heal slowly.

Just before the skin reattached itself, she noticed that there wasn't anymore growling or snarling. In fact, the wolf was completely silent. As soon as her hand left its leg, the wolf moved the once-injured appendage as if testing it. Its jaw slackened and released its grip on the little girl's arm, backing away easily. Hinata panted in exhaustion mixed with pain as she cradled her bloody arm near her torso. Her eyes seemed glued to her own blood currently staining her white gown.

That was until a long wide tongue bent down to lick the broken skin. Glancing up, Hinata found herself face to face with the gray wolf. Its yellow eyes stared at her quietly for a second before licking her from her chin to the upper side of her small face. Bending down once again, it nudged its wet nose against her injured arm while whining.

For the first time since arriving at the meadow that day, Hinata smiled softly. "I-I'm okay…really. See, watch." She immediately began healing her own wound, but it was taking longer since she had already used quite a bit of energy and had to use even more to heal herself, a human.

The wolf seemed satisfied even before Hinata had finished healing herself. It delivered her one last lick to the face before trotting off into the trees and disappearing into the darkness of the forest.

Hinata was confused, yet internally happy as well. Healing was her gift, after all, and using it as she wanted gave her nothing more than contentment. However, she just wished she had enough energy left over to fully heal her arm. The flesh wound was healed, but it still hurt.

Even Itachi could clearly see that slight pain was etched onto her delicate face. "I was under the impression that there was no pain left over when you healed something."

Hinata gasped and snapped her attention upward, noticing the familiar red-eyed demon standing not five feet from her. He was still closer to the edge of the clearing than he was to her, but he was there nevertheless. Fear rippled through her body, as was indicated by her wide eyes and trembling lips. Her entire body seemed to shake and all she could remember was his last words to her that one time they "met".

"_Should we meet again, I can not guarantee your safety."_

Was this it? She naively went to the meadow again, endangering herself, and now she was going to receive the repercussions? She was going to die? How could she have been so childishly foolish as to think that the demon wouldn't come back and kill her should he be given the opportunity…She was a fool.

Itachi narrowed his eyes at the girl, despite the rest of his body coming off as indifferent. "Well? Are you planning on answering me?"

She inhaled shakily, gulped, and shifted her eyes around, trying to remember exactly what he had asked her only a few seconds prior.

When he saw her gaze around helplessly, he nearly sighed. "Was I wrong to assume that when you healed something, it would heal the pain as well?" he asked again, rewording his previous question.

Finally catching onto what he was inferring to, she glanced down at her arm, still cradled close to her body. She mutely shook her head in reply. "I-I do heal the pain, but…I don't have enough energy left to…to heal my p-pain, so…um…my arm's still kinda sore…"

Her voice was as soft as he had remembered, like a fragile wind chime afraid to move too hard or quickly. In fact, her voice resembled the chime-like sounds of her harp. "Hn," He grunted in disinterest, glancing over her toward the small, intricate harp that lay on the opposite end of the meadow.

Still enthralled in fright, she hesitantly gazed up at him from behind the minute shield of her lashes and bangs. "Um…A-Are you going to-to kill me?" She couldn't help stuttering when in the presence of such a powerful demon as he.

His eyes switched back to hers quickly before answering with the barest of amusement to his tone. "Would you like me to?"

She shook her head frantically, causing her short dark hair to sway with the movement.

"Hm…" Keeping his eyes on her, he seated himself on the ground, leaning his back against a nearby tree.

The intensity in which he looked at her was so contradictory to how he presented himself—with utter apathy. She couldn't help but stay completely still, with only her eyes following his every movement with caution as if at any second he would strike. Although, she did feel a small amount of relief at hearing him insinuate that he wasn't going to kill her unless she asked him to, which was strange, considering that he was a demon. From what she had been taught about demons, they hardly asked for permission when deciding to kill someone. They were ruthless and brutal, or so she was told. Were the teachings wrong, or was he just a _different _kind of demon?

"Well?" He spoke, interrupting her reverie.

Her opal eyes found his again in question. She blinked in confusion, wondering what he talking about.

His brows lowered. "Play your harp."

She blinked a few more times in surprise. She even tilted her head to the side after taking a glance back at her abandoned instrument. "Y-You…want me to…play?"

He didn't reply or even nod; he just stared.

Biting her lip, she stood and walked over to retrieve her harp before walking back to her previous position. Hinata sat down warily and placed her fingers near the strings. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched him in curiosity, not knowing what she was supposed to be doing exactly. "Um…What should I play?"

He looked at her levelly. "It doesn't matter."

"Um, okay…but…I don't play very good."

"It doesn't matter."

She lowered her gaze before nodding to herself, and focused on playing the same song she had performed the previous night. Taking a deep breath, her fingers moved and the song began.

Almost immediately, as if by some strange magic, the tension began to release from Itachi's body. The gentle music filled the meadow and infiltrated his ears. Automatically, his eyes closed as he leaned his head back against the trunk of the tree. Despite his vision being gone with his eyes closed, he could still detect her presence with ease. He could hear not only the music, but every small shift of her small body. When breathing inwardly, he could smell her scent as if it drifted straight to him. If innocence had a certain scent to it, he was sure that it would be just what Hinata smelled like.

Cracking his eyes open, he stared at the girl, who had suddenly become entranced by her own playing, as if she had fallen into a world of her own. A small smile touched her lips, which was opposite of the fear she had shown only a few minutes before. Watching her, he couldn't help but study exactly _why _she was so interesting to him, for he didn't understand it at all. It wasn't like she was special in any way.

For starters, she was so small; almost everything about her was small. Her ears were small, her nose and chin were small, and her hands were small, just as her feet were. Despite being only a child, she had to be one of the shortest alive. She was such a diminutive little girl. The only thing he found "big" about her was her eyes. They weren't big per se, but they were wide, opal, and gleaming with an abnormal amount of purity.

With purity and innocence, though, came naivete. Something she would no doubt be cursed with for the remainder of her life. What was worse was that she seemed weak even by human's standards. She was such a defenseless creature. Weren't deities supposed to be powerful beings, great threats to demon kind?

Hinata could heal, of course, with tremendous power and without even batting an eyelash, but where would that leave her in a battle? Absolutely dead.

However, a "redeeming" quality of hers was that she exuded a sense of protectiveness in those around her. He assumed that even before her birth, she would've been gravely protected. He wasn't positive on that assumption, since it was only based on how he personally felt, albeit unconsciously.

He hadn't realized when, how, or why his protective tendencies, which were supposed to be nonexistent, seemed to show up all of a sudden. And they appeared out of thin air as soon as she made contact with that wolf. It felt like it had taken everything in his willpower not to attack the wolf and stop it from biting her. Although, it was that realization alone, wanting to stop the wolf from hurting her, that had halted him in his place, preventing him from making such a stupid mistake as protecting her.

It was strange, and he knew it would take awhile before he fully understood just why he was so near to protecting her in that moment. All he could do was bide his time and observe her as the days went on. It appeared to be the only way.

"Um, uh…Mr. demon, sir?" Hinata's whispered voice woke him from his internal thoughts.

His once glazed over eyes turned to her, feeling annoyed at what she had called him. "Do not call me that. It's Itachi…and _only _Itachi."

She flushed in embarrassment before stuttering out her apology. "I-Itachi…um, I…I finished the song."

Already? Was he really not paying that much attention when he was observing her flaws and weaknesses? Seeing her gazing at him inquiringly, he merely raised a brow. "So…?"

Her gulp was audible in the awkward silence. "Do…Do you want me to play it again?"

His brow furrowed just barely, unnoticeable to anyone who wasn't an inch from his face. "You do not know any other songs?"

Biting her lip for a brief second, she eventually shook her head shamefully.

"Hn."

Noticing his eyes narrow, she panicked and spoke before thinking, while her forefingers tapped together nervously. "Um, but, I…I made up this one song, and I've wanted to try it on my harp, but I haven't yet, so…I could play that, but I never tried it before, so it…might not sound very good…"

After another moment of silence, he watched as she peeked at him uncertainly, waiting for his approval. Nothing in his facial expression changed, save for his lips moving uncaringly. "It doesn't matter."

"Y-You don't mind?"

"I said, it doesn't matter." He repeated with a slight irritation in his voice.

"Okay…" She whispered before focusing her attention once again on her harp. This time, she was nearly at a loss of what to do. It was true that she had been humming her own made up song lately, but the song was nonsensical in her mind. Where would she start, and how would she convert it to the strings on the harp? She supposed that she could just test the strings for what sound was best for each part.

With a single nod, she hovered her fingers over the strings and closed her eyes. With her mouth closed and lips touching, she hummed quietly her own special song.

After finding a starting point, she tested a few strings until one sounded right. From then on, she worked on matching her harp playing with how she hummed the song. She had to admit, even to herself, that it sounded horrible.

Itachi watched on with a sliver of amusement at her inner frustration. It was clearly a difficult task for anybody learning a new song. She was basically creating a song on a harp that she had only ever heard in her head. Being that she never tried converting the humming into music, he wasn't surprised at how often she stumbled with the strings, trying to find the right way it was supposed to sound. Despite how terrible it all really sounded, an inner impulse led to the corner of his mouth twitching upward for the briefest of moments before it disappeared in the blink of an eye.

He had listened to her humming before, which was why the song sounded somewhat familiar. It was such a melancholy tune, and yet…it held something else he couldn't quite identify. It was as difficult as trying to identify why she had become something of an interest to him. It was all so confusing.

Glancing up to the sky and taking into account of how much time had passed, he stood fluidly, attracting her attention to him, which caused the "music" to stop. His red eyes found her white ones before he spoke. "That's enough for today. Return to your home, deity. I'll be expecting you to have further progressed by tomorrow."

Before all the words even left his mouth, he had turned and began walking towards the forest from where he came. Hinata didn't take her eyes away from him, even when she couldn't see him anymore. He hadn't killed her, and it seemed as though he expected her to come back to the meadow the next day and play the harp again as well. He truly was a confusing demon, but she couldn't help feeling a small burst of excitement at the prospect of returning to the meadow and being in his enigmatic presence once more.

* * *

Jiraiya stood on the edge of the courtyard, next to Kakashi, Asuma, and Gai. All four of them stood watching the group of boys spar with each other. "How well are they doing in their training?" the older man asked.

Asuma took a drag from his cigarette before answering. "Very well, considering their ages. They've got the basics down." He exhaled the smoke in a pause. "They haven't _mastered _the basics yet, but they know 'em."

"Good." Jiraiya nodded sternly. "It's about that time."

The three men turned to look at the patriarch questioningly.

The patriarch, in turn, sighed and looked back at them. "It's time for them to take up their duties as guardians and security force."

"You've decided their placements?" Kakashi asked seriously.

Asuma spoke up before Jiraiya had a chance to answer. "I still think it's too soon for them. Sure, they've already said what they want to do, but how do we know that they're still going to want to do it in a few years? They're too young to make that kind of decision and stick to it."

"Whatever your opinion may be on the matter, it's already been decided." Jiraiya explained. "We chose their placements based on their skills and abilities, what position they would be more efficient at. For instance," he sighed. "Shikamaru will be put on security. His skills at strategy would be more useful in that area versus being a guardian."

"Ah," Asuma conceded.

"Afterwards," The patriarch continued. "They'll be specially trained according to their new duties."

Gai finally spoke up, mirroring Kakashi's question. "And you and Lady Tsunade have already decided who's going to do what?"

"That's correct. After dinner, the announcement will be made. From then on, I want all of you to train them in accordance to their new obligations. Understood?"

The three men didn't argue with their patriarch, and merely nodded instead.

"Good." Jiraiya let out a breath of relief as he let his arms hang back down to his sides. "See you all again in a few hours."

* * *

"Sorry I couldn't hang out with you after lunch today, Hina." Temari stated as she, along with everyone else of the temple, ate dinner.

Hinata turned to her with a reassuring smile, but waited until she swallowed her food before answering. "It's okay, Temari. I don't mind."

The older girl's brows furrowed in concern. "Okay…So, uh…What'd you do anyway?"

For a second, Hinata tensed in panic before calming herself down enough to answer without stammering. "Um, I just…practiced with my harp…"

"Oh…" Temari shook her head. "You're always practicing."

Tenten, overhearing their conversation, laughed. "You practice more than all of us. Pretty soon, we won't be able to keep up with you."

Hinata smiled shyly and blushed at the semi-compliment. "I-I don't know about that…"

Ino glanced over at the indigo-haired girl with curiosity. "If you're always practicing, how come we never hear you?"

"Yeah," Sakura agreed. "We never see you during free time, either. Where do ya go?"

Panicking once again, and knowing Ino's special ability, yet not knowing how to counter it like Temari, Hinata used a different tactic to keep the blonde from reading her mind. It was a special tactic that Temari taught her, since she didn't know how to "block" Ino from her mind. All she had to do was think of something and concentrate on it solely. As quick as she could, she created an image in her mind of her playing the harp in the temple gardens. Not allowing her thoughts to stray from that image, she replied to the other two girls' questions. "I don't like to play loudly…so I go to the gardens, so, um…nobody would hear me…"

"But—" Ino started, but was interrupted quickly by Temari who scowled at her and Sakura.

"Quit it. And you," Temari directed her glare to Hinata. "You don't have to answer every question they ask you, you know."

"I-I know…I'm sorry."

"What did I tell you about always saying 'sorry'?"

"Oh, I forgot, I'm sor—" Hinata stopped herself, and instead formed her expression into a pout.

Temari smiled softly before giggling to herself and hugging Hinata close to her body.

"Alright, that's enough!" Tsunade called out loudly from the front of her table in the dining hall. With Jiraiya next to her, she faced the three masters, the boys, and the deities with authority. "Quiet down and turn your attention up here!"

"We have a…an announcement to make, so listen carefully." Jiraiya added calmly.

All previous talking in the large room faded off into a dead silence as each individual turned their gaze to their two leaders. Even as children, they knew when to pay attention, especially when the matriarch used _that _tone. What was strange to the children was that even the other adults paid attention with the same anticipation of something they didn't know about.

Releasing a breath, Tsunade regarded the large group expressionlessly. "As you may or may not know, there has been talk and decision-making regarding each of the deities having their own guardian, or one of the boys to be specific. The rest of the remaining boys will, of course, be part of the security force.

"Not too long ago, you boys might remember when we questioned you one by one about what position you would prefer. Despite that, we have taken the time to analyze your skills and abilities, determining what placement would be best for you. I'm sure you'd like to know that we've reached our final decision on the matter, and have already assigned five of you boys to be guardians to each of the five deities. Clear so far?"

Everyone nodded with the boys seeming more curious, and a few of the girls turning love-struck gazes over to certain boys at the other table.

Tsunade exhaled, placing her hands on her hips. "Okay…Pay attention because this decision is final. As for you boys who will be guardians…well, I'll go over your duties in a moment. First, I'm going to list off everyone's placements. Security force will include Choji, Shikamaru, Shino, and Kiba. Sasuke, you will also be included in that area, but…Kakashi, I want you to keep him in sight at all times."

Kakashi nodded during a yawn, while Sasuke scowled and crossed his arms over his chest angrily. Meanwhile, the other boys seemed quite pleased that they were part of the security force with Asuma, Kakashi, and Gai.

"As for the guardians," Tsunade smiled slyly. "I have selected Lee, Kankuro, Naruto—"

"Yes!"

"Gaara and Neji."

"Who are we guarding? Huh? Huh? C'mon, granny Tsunade, who are we guarding?" Naruto asked persistently, as Lee joined him in their excitement, both boys glancing quickly over to the pink-haired deity. Kankuro and Gaara glanced at each other before staring back at the matriarch. Other than them, Neji snapped his attention over to Hinata and couldn't help feeling his heartbeat increase.

Jiraiya broke in to speak. "To answer your question, Naruto, keep in mind that we assigned you to the deity who we figured you would get along with, for the most part. Either that, or we assigned you to a certain deity according to how loyal and protective we know you could be."

"So, who is it?" Naruto continued in a whine. "Just tell us already!"

"Quiet, Naruto!" Tsunade hissed before calming herself and directing her attention over to the table of deities. "Ino, your guardian will be Naruto."

"What?!" Both blondes yelled in unison.

"Why her?!"

"Why can't my guardian be Sasuke?!"

Tsunade ignored their protests and went on. "Sakura, your guardian will be Lee."

"Yes!" Lee stood up and threw his fist into the air in victory.

"No way!" Naruto protested once again. "That's no fair!"

"Oh no…" Sakura groaned, resting her forehead onto the table.

"Gaara, you'll be Temari's guardian. I trust there's no objections."

Both siblings merely shrugged, not complaining about their situation.

"Lastly, Kankuro will be guarding Tenten, and Neji…"

Both Kankuro and Tenten glanced at each other, not able to withhold their laughing at how much teasing the other would have to endure.

"Neji will be guarding Hinata."

Tenten stopped laughing for a moment and pouted her lips at hearing who her crush was being paired with.

Meanwhile, Neji and Hinata gazed at each other, containing their small smiles of enjoyment. The dark-haired girl even had a modest blush painted on her cheeks.

"Okay, now to explain what your duties will be as guardians. First off, though, those who are going to be part of security, you will be trained specially by Asuma, Gai, and Kakashi, separate from the other boys. Those who are going to be guardians, you'll be trained by Jiraiya.

"As for your duties, other than training, you will be required to stay by your deity's side at all times. Become comfortable with each other, learn from each other, and build a relationship of loyalty and trust, for it will be needed later on. I'm not saying you aren't allowed to do anything else—I'm just saying that you'll need to start learning how to keep an eye on who you're supposed to be guarding." She paused and gazed over them all seriously. "This is a dangerous world we live in, and one can never be too careful, especially when guarding deities, who are beyond important."

Confused, Sakura stood up. "But, I thought that we were safe inside the temple? Since there's a barrier around the entire village, we're safe, aren't we?"

The room emanated silence as Tsunade lowered her gaze, her lips wavering into a wry smile. "Yes, we're safe…so far."

Jiraiya glanced at the matriarch out of the corner of his eye before he added on. "'One can never be too careful'. Demons have always sought to conquer Konoha because of its impenetrable barrier. Our weakness lies in the fact that demons are unpredictable."

At the mention of demon, an image of the demon Hinata knew entered her mind, causing her eyes to lower in unnamed silence. What she heard next made her brow furrow in uncertainty.

"Demons are our enemies, and they are death incarnate. Remember that."

* * *

"_The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend."_

_-Abraham Lincoln_

* * *

**(1). The song I imagined the girls playing was "To Zanarkand" from FFX. Just thought you'd want to know!**

**Actually, I think from now on, if there's any song-playing in the chapter, I'll just tell you what song it was in the author's note at the beginning of the chapter, instead of at the end. Keep that in mind from now on!**

**Also, I'm going to be spending the next couple of days editing some previous chapters, because I just realized that a few sentences won't coincide with the future chapters. It won't be anything big, at least not yet, so yeah.**

**Next, I want to say this for the last time. If you guys have any questions that you really want answered, you have to post the question on my livejournal profile (link is on ff profile page), otherwise I won't answer it.**

**However, I do want to continue to let all my reviewers know that I really appreciate you guys, and thank you so very much for taking the time to review. Every one of my chapters goes out to you guys! If it weren't for you guys, I seriously would've dropped this story long ago.**

**Thanks again, and see you all next chapter!**


	10. Guardian

**Author Note: **Thanks for the reviews!

**Important Note: The song Hinata plays that is considered "made-up", it's the song "Sadness and Sorrow" from the actual Naruto anime.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter IX**

**Guardian**

* * *

"_You are my Protector everywhere; why should I feel any fear or anxiety?"_

_-Sri Guru Granth Sahib_

"_Music is what feelings sound like."_

_-Unknown_

"_Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and cannot remain silent."_

_-Victor Hugo_

* * *

Breakfast that morning had confused all the children. Instead of the tables they were used to, there were only two tables in the entire dining room. One smaller table was reserved for the two temple leaders and the other adults, while a long rectangular table was meant for the children. They could have whatever seats they wanted, as long as their guardians were next to or across from them. Tsunade explained that it was so they would get used to their new situation.

Therefore, each child claimed a seat near who they at least wouldn't mind being near. At the head of the table sat Temari with Gaara, her brother and guardian, sitting on her right, and Hinata occupying the seat on her left. Neji stole the seat next to his deity, followed by an enthusiastic Kankuro sitting next to his brother and across from Neji. Following the rules, Tenten sat next to Kankuro, and with an excited blush, diagonal from Neji.

Lee sat next to Neji, much to the Hyuga's chagrin, and Sakura grudgingly took her place at Lee's side. Luckily for her, Ino sat across from her with Naruto sitting next to the blonde. That was when Sasuke entered the room with the other boys.

Sakura perked up, seeing the seat next to her empty. With hearts in her eyes, she called out to the dark-haired boy to sit by her, which he retaliated with internal horror. Fortunately, Kiba had unknowingly saved the day. In mid-joke with the other boys, he grabbed the chair across from Naruto, followed by Shino sitting next to him and Choji at the end across from Shikamaru. Repressing a sigh of relief, Sasuke reluctantly sat in the only available seat between Naruto and Shikamaru. It could be worse, he rationalized. From there, breakfast was eaten and bickering ensued.

During the meal, it was easy to see how the guardian-deity relationships were going to be; at least for awhile. Gaara and Temari didn't have any problems, seeing as they were siblings and already used to the other's presence. Neji and Hinata got along very well, with Neji stealing every available chance at having her attention solely on himself. Hinata wasn't against that either.

Kankuro and Tenten joked with and teased each other, but not without smiles on their young faces. It seemed to only be Sakura and Ino who had the most difficulties. Lee spoke in over-excitement to her, while she switched between plugging her ears and banging her head on the table. After all, with Neji distracted, Lee was more than happy to talk to his beautiful Sakura instead.

Watching them, Naruto would grumble jealously and yell in irritation at Ino, who tried multiple times to talk to Sasuke around him. Their intense arguing only heightened when Sakura tried to intervene.

Fortunately for the delicate ears around them, the bickering halted when the patriarch stood to address the group of children. As expected, all of them silenced except for Naruto, who told the old man to sit back down before he broke his perverted back. Ino quickly dealt with the matter with a firm slap to Naruto's currently injured head.

"I knew it would be a good decision pairing those two together." Jiraiya murmured to himself before speaking to the children in an easily audible voice. "Okay, kids, here's the deal. Those training for security, you'll leave with your three masters as soon as you finish eating. You'll be under their watch at all times except to eat, go to the bathroom, and sleep. Those who are guardians, you'll spend today following around your assigned deity. You will do this except for when the deities are being trained by Anko. During that time, you'll be trained by me until their training session is over. Also, keep in—"

"Wait a minute, you pervy old man!" Naruto interrupted with an expression of disgust on his face. "Are you sayin' I have to follow her everywhere except for when I'm training?"

"Yes, you idiot. Now, stop calling me—"

"Even to the bath and the toilet and her bedroom?!"

"Naruto, that's—"

"That's so gross! She's a girl and I don't wanna do it! That's completely unfair!"

"Why can't you shut up?!" Ino shouted, attempting to strangle the loud boy.

"Get off me, Ino!"

Jiraiya sighed, followed by obvious snickering from Tsunade. "Good decision to pair those two up, huh?"

The older man shrugged. "Ino can handle him."

"Sure, but can he handle her?"

Ignoring the matriarch, Jiraiya continued with his explanation. "To answer Naruto's 'question', no, you will not have to go absolutely everywhere with your deity. However, I do expect you guardians to learn to keep an eye on them. While we are indeed safe here at the temple, you need to perform your duties as if there can be a threat at any time. Is that clear?" he huffed in satisfaction at the nods he received before crossing his arms over his chest. "After dinner, your guarding duties will be over until breakfast the next morning. That should at least offer all of you some time to yourselves."

"Thank God!" Ino and Sakura groaned in unison.

Tsunade stood and gazed at them with obvious authority. "Now, hurry up with your breakfast and get moving. I expect the best of you all today!"

While most of the children turned back to their food to finish quickly, Hinata stared downcast at her scattered meal, panicking inwardly. If Neji was supposed to be guarding her for most of the day, excluding training and after dinner, then where would she find the alone moments to sneak off to the meadow? The demon—Itachi—was expecting her to be there to play her harp. As frightened as she initially was of him, there was also something about him she couldn't avoid.

Just thinking about it made her insides jump with excitement, though she didn't understand why. However, if she couldn't go, would he be angry with her? She inwardly whimpered with the thought that by not being there, he would finally decide to kill her, as demons were supposed to.

_Oh no…What do I do?_

* * *

The green-eyed Yukio burst through the office door of the village leader. At the loud sound, Sarutobi glanced up curiously, pausing in his writing. "Is there something you need, Yukio?"

Gulping and attempting to catch his breath, his eyes glistened like emeralds, emanating hope. "Have they sent word yet? Are they on their way? When will they be back?"

The Lord chuckled, leaning leisurely back in his chair. "Calm down—I can only answer one question at a time."

Yukio bowed respectfully. "I apologize, my Lord."

The leader waved it off before inhaling deeply. "No word has been sent yet and I don't know when they will return," He saw Yukio's hope begin to dissipate. "But! Keep in mind that traveling to and from that village takes time. Not to mention the time it will take to clean the village and bury those who died."

"How long will that take?"

Sarutobi shrugged. "One week, maybe two at most. It depends on how much they have to do."

"Oh…I understand." Yukio gazed at the floor with his eyebrows knotted together in concern.

The leader smiled softly. "Not to worry, my boy. I'm sending someone tomorrow morning to go check on their progress and report back to me. Come to my office tomorrow evening; I'll have the report by then."

Yukio was back to smiling with hope and joy. He bowed once again. "Thank you, my Lord."

* * *

When it came to attending Kurenai's lesson, more chairs were provided for the guardians, instead of the usual five. Rather than the typical setup, the seating was arranged so that the deities were paired next to their guardians. This was proven as Hinata glanced to the seat next to her, which was occupied by Neji.

Sensing her gaze, Neji turned to look at her before his lips moved upward into a small smile. Returning the smile, Hinata faced the front again to await Kurenai's instruction.

Once again, it was only Naruto, Ino, and Sakura who continued to complain.

"Okay," Kurenai began. "I think we'll take a break from our normal lessons and have a little history lesson on the village instead. Now, you already know, girls, why you were born with your powers. You are descendents of the goddess and therefore have a good portion of her attributes."

Ino leaned close to Sakura, whispering. "She must've been really beautiful then." The two giggled, not noticing Tenten and Kankuro roll their eyes.

"Moving on," Kurenai gave them a look for interrupting. "Now, there's a lot of myths and legends surrounding the capabilities that deities possess. One myth has been about their lives, or more specifically, their age. There is not a lot of evidence, only what we know from past written records. For instance, it used to be thought that deities were immortal, that they could live as long as demons. This is not true. What would be more factual is that deities just live longer than average humans. Due to the goddess blood, they age slower—"

Tenten looked confused. "You mean, we don't look our age right now?"

Kurenai sighed. "No, that's not it. Once your body reaches full maturity—basically, when it's done growing, you'll start to age really slowly. So, when you're in your forties or fifties, you'll still look like you're in your twenties. It's suggested that you'll start aging by half."

"Cool." Tenten murmured before sticking her tongue out at Kankuro, who reciprocated with a pouting glare.

Kurenai continued. "Deities live long lives. In fact, from our knowledge, the longest living deity lived to be about 244, I believe."

"What?!" Ino stood up with wide, horrified eyes. "I don't wanna look that old for so long!"

Naruto snickered. "Wrinkly, old granny Ino."

"Shut up, Naruto!"

"Ow! Stop hitting me!"

"Then stop opening your big mouth!"

"Naruto, Ino, that's enough!" Kurenai shouted over them. "One more interruption and I'm sending you to Lady Tsunade, who will gladly punish you. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Miss Kurenai." They both muttered in unison, looking in opposite directions from each other.

The red-eyed woman sighed once again. "Now, this leads to another controversy. It used to be assumed that there was a certain number of decades or centuries between the birth of each new generation of deities. This was also proven wrong. It was found out that a new generation of deities wouldn't come until all the deities of the previous generation died. However, the time in between is never the same and always changing."

Sakura raised her hand. "Um, Miss Kurenai?"

"You have a question, Sakura?"

"Yeah, about the barrier…"

"What about it?"

"Well, why did the goddess put it up? I know it's so demons won't attack, but did she put it there because the village was attacked once?"

Out of curiosity, the others paid closer attention to hear the answer.

Kurenai seemed quiet for a moment before answering. After clearing her throat, she began while gazing out one of the windows in the room. "Yes, there was an attack. So far, since the beginning of this village, there have been two human and demon wars, also titled the End Wars. The first war occurred here and the second further up north, which is now demon territory. After our victory in the first war, the goddess put up the barrier."

"What about the second war?" Neji spoke up. "Did we win that one too?"

Kurenai smiled sadly. "Unfortunately, no, we didn't. It was a very bloody war and a lot of people died. We were forced to retreat, and even then, few returned alive."

Naruto huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "How did we win the first war and not the second one?"

Kurenai took a seat, facing the children. "Well, we were at an advantage in the first war. We had the goddess on our side, when she was at full power too. She died before the second war, but the humans had the deities on their side. I don't know all the details, though, since this was before my time. It was even before Lady Tsunade and Lord Jiraiya's time. All we have now is records."

"So," Temari raised a brow. "There were deities before the second war?"

"Oh yes," Kurenai nodded. "There were a few generations of deities before the second war ever came around. In fact, two deities took part in the second war. They were the last remaining deities before you guys came along. One of those deities happened to be Lady Tsunade's grandmother."

They all seemed slightly shocked by that news.

"Where are they now?"

"Naruto," Sakura scolded. "Weren't you listening? They obviously died if we're here, you idiot."

"Aw, Sakura! I forgot!"

Ino scowled. "Just shut up, will you?"

All Kurenai had to do was glare at them, and they silenced before Naruto could even remark. When it was quiet again, Kurenai set her red eyes on the blonde boy. "Yes, Naruto, Sakura is right; the deities before these girls are deceased now."

"Deceased?" Naruto's face scrunched up in confusion.

"Dead." The older woman clarified.

"Oh…" He paused shortly, gaining a more serious expression. "What happened to them?"

"From my knowledge," Kurenai licked her lips briefly. "Three deities died before the second war, and Lady Tsunade's grandmother was killed in that war. The last remaining deity fled, knowing that she wouldn't survive if she stayed. Nobody knows where she went, but about ten years ago, we were notified about her death; she passed away easily." She began to smile. "And not too long after, you girls arrive, and we have our deities again."

Despite how it was supposed to liven up the situation, the children, mainly the girls, were silent as they realized just what kind of world they were born into. Sure, they were safe inside the walls of Konoha, but outside of it? Demons were out there, and they obviously had the ability to terminate a deity, no matter how powerful she might've been. It was like a dagger of reality had just stabbed its way into their stomachs, forcing them to come to that ultimate realization that although long-living, they were still mortal…they could still be killed. Should another war occur, where would that leave them?

Suddenly, for both the boys and girls, all the progress they made and were once proud of, seemed so insignificant. They were still so far away from at least being able to defend themselves. As Neji glanced to Hinata, his deity, he was filled with an inner horror at not being able to protect her when the time came. He was still so weak.

Naruto slammed his palm onto the wall next to him as he stood up with raw determination in his eyes and his little body tensed with a ferocity unknown to a typical seven-year-old.

The loud noise caused everyone else in the room to look over at him in surprise. Ino's brows furrowed. "Naruto?"

"Heh." The blonde boy smirked as his blue eyes seemed to burn intensely. "I hope another war happens then."

Sakura's eyes widened, appalled by his declaration. "Naruto! Why would you say that!"

"Because," Naruto's smile grew. "Somebody needs to teach those demons a lesson. They won't stand a chance against us. Know why?" He glanced to Ino, who barely shook her head. "Because it won't be just you, girls, fighting the demons…it'll be us too! All we have to do is train really hard and get better and better until those stupid demons won't be able to keep up!"

Despite how much Naruto annoyed her at times, Ino couldn't help smiling.

Facing his deity, Naruto stuck his thumb in the air. "Don't worry, Ino! I'll protect you no matter what!"

Grinning widely, the blonde girl nodded.

The moment was interrupted by Lee, who stood up and patted Naruto on the back. "It is so true, Naruto! We will all train very hard!" His own thumb stuck up to match Naruto's, and the two boys laughed together, not noticing their deities hang their heads in defeat.

"Well, speaking of training," Kurenai stood up with a small smile and motioned to the door leading out to the courtyard. "I believe it's time for you all to go train. Boys, escort your deities over to Anko, and then you can go meet with Lord Jiraiya for your own training."

In excitement, the boys—save for Gaara and Neji—bolted out of their seats, practically dragging their designated deities along with them, and ran for the courtyard. Temari and Gaara calmly followed after them.

Grasping onto Neji's hand, Hinata smiled comfortingly and waited until he stood and walked with her out of the room, their hands never parting. As they walked, Neji couldn't help but shake his head at Naruto's little "display". After all, it was hard to admit when the hyperactive blonde boy was actually right about something.

* * *

Training had come and gone with something similar to an adrenaline rush, sparked by the determination to get stronger, which left the boys and girls nearly exhausted. Lunch arrived and seemed like an almost exact replica of how breakfast had gone that morning.

Finally, the time came for when they would be put back to work again. It was the time when Hinata usually sneaked off to the meadow with her harp. It was the time when Itachi was expecting her to be there. Yet, she was instead placed at a difficult position, since Neji being with her restricted her from going to her most favorite place. Her heart clenched at the knowledge that she wouldn't be able to go, lest her secret be revealed, which would only imprison her within the village indefinitely. Needless to say, she was distraught.

Taking notice of the blank longing in Hinata's disposition, Neji quickly took her hand and led her over to the others in an attempt to alleviate whatever she was feeling. Together, they went to go play with the other children—something that children were supposed to do.

Playing the harp in a meadow with a demon present was hardly considered something a child should partake in.

--

Outside the Konoha walls, in a meadow hidden within a dark forest, Itachi appeared with a narrowed expectance. To his disappointment, only a familiar gray wolf occupied the small clearing. It seemed that he wasn't the only one waiting.

In a few moments time, he would feel a pang of anger swell up inside of him, knowing the deity was not coming.

In a few moments time, he would contemplate why exactly such an insignificant occurrence would make him angry, why it would make him feel disappointed.

* * *

"You all did very well today." Tsunade announced at dinner. "Today was merely a test to see if this arrangement would work, and we all agree that it will. So from now on, the schedule you all had today will continue. I suggest you get used to it."

Ino and Sakura weren't the only ones feeling frustrated by the news. Hinata, for her part, felt dejected that she would no longer be able to escape to the meadow during her usual time.

Suddenly, it felt as though she was truly locked in a protective cage.

However, even she knew at her young age that there had to be a time when she could sneak away without being caught. But the only time she would really be alone was during bedtime hours. Even after dinner, she would be with someone. If she wasn't practicing her instrument with the other girls, Temari would usually cart her off somewhere for random entertainment before they were sent to their bedrooms. If she were to sneak out, it would have to be during the time that she would be asleep.

Even so, she knew, just as the others knew, that the security men patrolled during the late hours of the night. So what if she could easily sneak out of the temple? If she couldn't get across the courtyard without being spotted, what would be the point?

A quiet sigh betrayed her lips as she continued to think of a way out. Perhaps if she could find out when and where the masters patrolled, she might be able to find a window of opportunity, but how would she find out that kind of knowledge?

"Hey Hina," Temari interrupted her inward scheming.

Hinata turned to look at her older friend, who was currently leaning closer to her with a sly smile on her face, signature to the mischievous Temari. "What is it?"

"After dinner, let's go to the baths, okay?"

"Um, sure." Hinata nodded and smiled.

"Cool. It'll be really, really nice and—"

Neji leaned over to the timid girl, seemingly oblivious to the talking Temari. "Hinata—"

"Hey!" The older blonde glared at the Hyuga boy. "I was talking to her—you go talk to Lee."

In return, Neji glared viciously, his face suddenly appearing older. "I don't think so. Talk to your guardian and leave me alone so I can talk to _my _Hinata."

Temari's eyes widened, taking a side-glance at the astonished Hinata. A second later, anger boiled inside of her, and her protective tendencies took over. "_Your _Hinata?" She stood, placing her palms open on the table, effectively towering over the Hyuga boy. "She's not yours!"

Gaara merely blinked at the confrontation, glancing around at all the faces that had turned towards the spectacle.

Temari continued. "I'll tell Lady Tsunade and she'll get Hina a _new _guardian!"

Neji scowled threateningly. "No, I won't let you."

"Oh yeah? Lady—" Temari stopped mid-yell at the feeling of a hand gripping her own. Glancing down, she met eyes with a very worried dark-haired girl.

Hinata stared pleadingly at her older friend. "Temari, please don't. It's alright, really. Please don't be mad."

"Hina, you shouldn't let—"

"Temari," Gaara addressed her calmly. "Leave it alone. If Hinata doesn't care, then don't annoy them."

Temari looked at him, seeing the warning glint in his young green eyes. With a sigh, she sat back down, arms crossed stubbornly over her chest. "Fine. Whatever."

Hinata's eyes met Gaara's, and she couldn't seem to decide what expression to wear.

The redhead only nodded to her, allowing her to smile in gratitude.

Temari pushed her unfinished plate away from her before standing. "Hina, when you're done eating, head to my room and we'll go to the baths."

Hinata nodded. "Okay, Temari."

Without so much as a nod, Temari left the dining hall. With a raised brow, Kankuro leaned on the table, switching his gaze between the three nearest Temari's empty seat. "What was her problem?" he laughed as he looked at Neji. "Dude, what did you say to make her so mad?"

"He said that Hinata was his." Gaara answered monotonously.

"Oh," the older boy seemed surprised that it was that simple.

Despite Kankuro's casualty about it, Tenten couldn't help but frown and feel a strange tightening of anger in her stomach. Did that mean that Neji _liked _Hinata like that? She hoped not.

* * *

Carrying a change of clothes under one arm, Hinata walked through the halls alone on her way to Temari's bedroom. Being alone in the empty halls, it was really no surprise when she was able to hear conversing voices in a room not too far ahead of her.

Moving as quietly as she knew how, she leaned against the wall near the slightly ajar door, which led into the room where the voices originated. It was muffled at first, but by concentrating a little harder, she was able to catch most of what was being said.

--

Lady Tsunade was sitting on a chair with her arms crossed and one leg positioned over the other. The patriarch leaned against the wall near her, both leaders staring at the three men in front of them.

Kakashi, Gai, and Asuma were standing in similar positions—casual, yet respectful stances.

"So, we won't be patrolling the grounds tonight, or what?" Asuma asked with confusion.

"That's not what I meant." Tsunade frowned. "Jiraiya and I need to have a meeting with you three and the other caretakers tonight after the kids are asleep. Once the meeting is over, you'll go back to your usual patrolling like normal."

"What's the meeting about?" Kakashi raised a brow.

Jiraiya shrugged. "Just the details about the new situation. For awhile, though, we'll have small meetings after the children are in bed to discuss their progress among other things. Essentially, you won't be patrolling until later, and this will last for…probably until the boys are able to patrol with you."

Asuma scratched his head. "That long just for progress updates?"

Jiraiya smiled in humor. "Among other things."

Tsunade rolled her eyes before speaking. "We'll need to continue to make sure that the kids are adjusting well. It's for their benefit."

"How long will these meetings be?" Gai questioned seriously.

It was the matriarch's turn to shrug. "It depends. On average…a few hours, maybe."

Both Asuma and Kakashi seemed to share the same sarcastic thought. _Great._

--

Hinata didn't hear anymore as she had already started walking away. To her, it seemed like pretty boring stuff. Not caring to give it anymore thought, she trotted happily up to Temari's door and knocked timidly.

The door opened not a minute later as Temari stepped out with her own change of clothes in hand. "Let's go, Hina." She smiled, seemingly back to her normal disposition. "Nice, hot baths, here we come!"

With a short giggle, Hinata followed.

* * *

The baths were just as elegant as the entire temple. There were two bathing areas, separated for gender purposes, but they were equal in beauty and extravagance. It was truly an amazing place. For one, the women's bath was extremely large in size. The room itself was huge, and the bath was long enough to swim a great distance in. It was shallow, but also kept at a constant high temperature. Even the water was specialized with minerals specific for cleansing of the skin. One mere soak would be enough to cleanse any dirt or impurities, not to mention how much it relaxed whoever was in it.

So, it was no wonder that when Hinata and Temari entered their bathing area, they weren't alone. In fact, three caretakers were already soaking. Anko was lounging with her head resting on the bath side, clearly asleep. Kurenai and Shizune were there as well, but they were relaxing with their eyes closed.

Stripping themselves of their dirty clothes, the two young girls submerged their naked bodies into the hot water. Both sat down near each other and at once began to clean themselves.

Cracking open their eyes, Kurenai and Shizune took notice of the girls, but the doctor closed her eyes again soon after. Only Kurenai greeted them. "Hey girls. Nothing like a nice bath before bed, huh?"

"You got that right, Miss Kurenai." Temari agreed.

Kurenai turned her soft smile to the other little girl. "And how are you, Hinata?"

"I'm fine." She replied with timidity.

"That's good."

"Hey, Miss Kurenai," Temari began, "So, what are we goin' to learn 'bout tomorrow?"

"Well, I was thinking about…"

As Kurenai trailed on in her answer, Hinata began to tune out the ongoing conversation. After washing herself, she laid back into the relaxing bath water, allowing her mind to wander.

She first thought about the newest revelation of Neji being her official guardian, something she didn't mind in the least. After all, she liked Neji a lot, and he continually doted on her with special affection. Of all the boys in the temple, she knew she liked him the most. She could easily see him becoming her best friend. She could only hope the feeling was mutual.

From her guardian, her mind then trailed to the conversation she had just recently heard. From what she gathered, it sounded like all the adults would be having long meetings just to talk about her and the others' progress, whatever that was. It also meant that the masters wouldn't be patrolling for a few hours after her bedtime, something she didn't know they did.

Would that mean that they would be unprotected during that time?

Was that dangerous?

Someone could easily sneak around the temple, and maybe even into it, and no one would be able to stop them—Hinata's eyes widened as something vital seemed to click together in her young mind.

If the adults were going to be occupied and the other kids in bed, no one would notice her temporary absence. She could sneak out just as easily as someone could sneak in.

It didn't occur to her that there wasn't a foolish enough person in the entire village, who would dare come near the Divine Temple.

Either way, she was astounded at her new idea. It would be the only time for her to escape to her precious meadow, and the only allotted time she would have to see the red-eyed demon (because he fascinated her greatly).

As her plan unfolded, she realized that she would have to retrieve her harp before going to "sleep". Perhaps before her bedtime, she would be allowed time to practice her made-up song, since Itachi was expecting her to improve.

She could only pray that he would be there.

* * *

After Temari and Hinata finished with their baths, the small Hyuga girl departed to the music room to retrieve her harp. When asked about her reasoning, she simply replied that she wanted to practice in her room before bed. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the full truth either.

Releasing a quiet sigh, Hinata retreated into her bedroom, closing the door sternly behind her. After a few decided movements, Hinata placed herself into a chair on her open balcony with her miniature harp resting on her lap.

Knowing she had an hour or less before it was lights out, she immediately embarked on practicing the song she was only beginning to make sense of in her head. It was an arduous process, which took a lot of testing with the strings, and she didn't realize how much time had passed until a sharp knock sounded on her bedroom door.

A head of dark hair peeked around the doorway until red eyes located the little white-eyed girl. Kurenai smiled maternally. "Time for bed, Hinata."

The shy girl merely nodded as she searched through her wardrobe for her nightgown. "Yes, ma'am."

"Get some sleep, okay?"

"I will."

Kurenai's smile softened. "Good night, Hinata. I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight, Miss Kurenai." Hinata murmured quietly just before Kurenai closed the door and disappeared from her sight.

From underneath her doorway, Hinata watched expectantly as the light diminished, proving that the outside hallways had darkened. Her heart began to beat nervously, while questioning if she was really going to go through with it. One glance at her harp made the decision for her, and she quickly laid her nightgown on the top of her bed before sitting on the bed herself.

She sat and waited, because she knew that the other caretakers were probably still in the process of telling the children to go to sleep. If she were to take off too early, she was at a great risk of getting caught, which would only ruin any further attempts to escape. So, she waited.

As she did so, her eyes trailed up to the luminous moon in the sky. Only half of it was lit up, but she found it beautiful nonetheless. She briefly wondered if perhaps her own eyes could match up to the moon's enchantment. With a rejected sigh, she thought perhaps not.

Eventually feeling her patience wearing thin, she jumped off her overly large bed, allowing her bare feet to hit the floor. Grasping onto her harp and guarding it with her arms, she tiptoed to her door, and slowly, without a sound, cracked it open.

Leaning her body forward, she peeked her head out the door until she was able to gaze inconspicuously down both ends of the hallway. It was fairly dark, but she was able to assess that no one was around. Barely resisting to exhale in relief, she cautiously edged out of her room, closing the door silently behind her.

Continuing to tiptoe, and even restricting her breaths from carrying on too noisily, she made her way down the hall, heading in the direction of the stairs. Despite how silent she was trying to be, it still felt as though the erratic pounding of her anxious heart was loud enough for everyone in the temple to hear. They would come after her any minute, force her back to bed, and she'd be in great trouble. They'd probably ask her where she was going and she'd be so afraid of their disappointment that she'd tell them everything. She'd be in even more trouble for being around a demon to where they'd lock her up and hunt him down.

Oh, and when they'd find him, someone would surely die! There would be no doubt about it. Hinata whimpered inwardly as she closed her eyes tightly, holding back the sensation of wanting to cry. It was a hopeless situation, and it was all her fault because she couldn't control her heartbeat!

"What are you doing out of bed?"

Hinata's entire body jumped, her eyes widened to an almost impossible degree, and her sharp gasp made its way quite audibly out of her mouth. After that second's worth of intense movements, everything about her stature just froze; even her heart felt like it had stopped beating.

This was it—she had been caught.

Before Hinata could even think to turn around in order to face whoever had found her, the person walked a few steps before crouching down in front of the little case of nerves.

It took longer than it should have for Hinata to finally recall the familiar face. It just happened to be one of the females, who worked in the kitchen. She was a noticeably bigger woman, with a round face, permanently rosy cheeks, and a messy, sweaty head of thin, dully colored hair to top it off.

The woman smiled; although it was thin, it held a sort of sweet comfort to it. "A deity awake at this hour? How unheard of. You should be asleep, young lady."

Hinata nodded her head furiously, not being able to calm down enough to even open her mouth. However, her bottom lip was trembling and her eyes were moistening quickly.

The woman clicked her tongue once before embracing the girl. "Oh, now, now. There's no reason to be afraid. You're not in trouble, dear." She released her, but kept her hand on the girl's small shoulders. "I just want to know why you're out of bed. Are you all right?"

Picking up on the worried tone, Hinata nodded again, while rubbing the heel of her hand in both eyes. As she did so, she answered with the first excuse that entered her head, and it most definitely wasn't the truth. "I just…wanted to put my harp back in the-the music room…cause I forgot…I'm sorry."

The woman smiled, but her eyes were scolding. "You should've waited until the morning to do that. But…go ahead and do that now since you're up. You need to be quiet, though, and get right back to bed when you're done, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good girl." She stood up before patting her on the head. "Now, get moving."

"Okay." Hinata began to walk in the direction she had just come from, since that was the way to the music room. She walked slowly and kept glancing behind her until she saw the woman disappear through a door after being called.

Only then did Hinata quickly turn around and run as quietly as she could back towards the stairs. She descended the stairs and continued her run until she was finally outside. It only took her a few seconds to locate that certain bush.

Before long, she had escaped the Konoha walls with the dark forest begging to envelop her completely. When it had, she found herself nearly being guided to her most secret place…her meadow.

Beams of moonlight flooded through the trees, providing her enough light in order to see where she was going. The moon seemed to almost become even brighter once Hinata broke through the trees into the small clearing that she secretly called her home. It was invigorating the way that the meadow looked even more beautiful at night, blanketed by that same moonshine she loved so dearly. The flowers were sleeping while retaining their beauty and there were even little glowing, dancing spots, which as she recalled, were fireflies. Suddenly, the darkness didn't seem so disconcerting anymore; it was enchanting.

A small noise brought her around to reality, causing her heart to jump in fright and her body to whirl around until she was facing the origin of the noise. Staring back at her from only a few feet of distance was a pair of bright yellow eyes. She calmed somewhat at seeing the familiar—now dark gray, almost black—figure of the wolf she had encountered not too long ago. She stood in abated silence until the animal growled below its breath, sending shivers down her spine.

Her fear was resolved quickly, though, when the same animal pounced on her, sending her harp flying to the ground not too far from where she landed herself. The wolf stood over her with intimidation that soon led to something else entirely. In fact, Hinata couldn't help but giggle in joy at feeling the wolf lick her face repeatedly in anticipated welcome. Hinata's small hands attempted to push the wolf away, but it was proving quite difficult amid all her laughing.

"Please stop, Mr. Wolf." She continued to giggle.

As if understanding her, it leapt away, allowing her to stand once again.

She wiped her face until it was dry again, and the smile didn't seem to want to disappear from her lips. "Do you like me now, Mr. Wolf?"

It merely sat down on its haunches and tilted its head while emitting a small sound in the back of its throat.

"Did you come to hear me play?"

Gracefully, it walked back towards her until its head lowered in close proximity to her forearm. After staring at the arm silently, it began to lick it with an intentional soothing touch.

Catching onto what the wolf was implying, Hinata gently rubbed her fingers behind one of the wolf's ears. "It's okay. It's not bloody anymore, see? It's healed now."

"Is it?"

Hinata jumped at the deep voice that sounded very close to her. Even the wolf stopped and placed itself in front of her protectively, growling threateningly at the newcomer.

Itachi merely crossed his arms over his chest lazily, giving the animal a look of pure disinterest. His dark red eyes soon trailed back over to the little girl.

"It's you…" She murmured to herself before offering him a shy smile. "Hi, Mr. Demon."

Itachi's once emotionless mask crumbled before her eyes, forming into something akin to annoyance. "I told you not to call me that."

Hinata blushed in embarrassment. "I'm sorry…I forgot, um…Mr. Itachi."

His jaw clenched tightly as he seemed to hiss at her through his teeth. "Not that either."

Now, Hinata was confused. "Itachi…?"

"_Just _Itachi."

"Okay, um…Itachi?"

"What?"

Why does everything he says always sound like monotonous statements versus actual questions? "Um…I brought my harp."

"Yes, I see that. Why."

"B-Because…you said…you said last time that you wanted me to play again."

"I meant why are you here. It's a little late for a young deity to be out in the forest."

"Oh…well, um…I can't come here anymore during the day or I'll get caught. I have a guardian who's s'posed to follow me around all day to protect me. His name is Neji, and I really like him."

Ignoring the sudden twitch in his left eyebrow, he questioned her for more clarity. "So, you come now."

She nodded. "Nobody will catch me at this time…but…I can't stay too long either…only an hour or two…"

"Hn." He watched as she lowered her head and began fiddling with her fingers, while biting her bottom lip in obvious uncertainty. "Well? Start playing. You better have improved upon our last meeting."

Hinata beamed before nodding once in determination. "I practiced, I promise, but…it's kind of hard. I got stuck a lot…"

Itachi moved to sit down and lean his back against a nearby large rock, while waiting for her to play.

Before moving to her harp, Hinata was distracted by the continual growling that the wolf was still doing. She cautiously approached the animal, stretching her hand out to run her fingers through its fur. "It's okay, Mr. Wolf. Please don't do that."

"How do you know that's a male?" Itachi questioned curiously.

Hinata's face furrowed in confusion. "What's a 'male'?"

Another twitch at the corners of his lips went ignored. "A man…a boy…"

"Oh!" Hinata smiled again. "Well, I dunno. Is it a boy wolf?"

Itachi nodded once for his answer.

Her smile widened before she turned to the wolf itself. "Is it okay if I call you Mr. Wolf? If you don't like it, I can call you something else, but I'll have to think of it…cause I don't know right now."

The wolf sat back, tilted his head, and watched her quietly.

Knowing that she wasn't going to get an answer any time soon, she returned her attention to her abandoned harp, which she was supposed to be playing.

Closing her eyes, Hinata sang her unfinished made-up song in her head, concentrating on the beginning. Once her eyes opened, she began to hum it quietly, assuming Itachi couldn't hear. It wasn't until she felt prepared enough that her fingers finally found their way to the strings. Plucking the strings that she knew were correct, the song began to form.

It was slow moving, since she was still learning, but the notes were right. It was a delicate song, saturated with a kind of elegance. It was soothing and tranquil, something that hinted at grief. In some strange way, he felt that it suited her countenance, despite that she appeared quite content for a girl her age. There was something internal that was being expressed, and for but a second, Itachi could almost glance into her life and see how her emotions were impacted by unknown experiences.

Was it possible that she was hiding a great amount of inner pain, but was unintentionally skilled enough to hide it? He doubted it, but the raw emotion in the song stated otherwise. Unfortunately, he didn't get a chance to dwell on it any further, seeing as the music flow stopped.

Hinata emitted a small noise of frustration when she reached a part that she hadn't tried before. Humming it under her breath, she tried to transfer it to the strings…unsuccessfully. She tested a few strings, played until that part, and tried again—only for it to sound wrong. Licking her lips in determined concentration, she performed a few motions of trial and error, which only disappointed her further. She hummed again, trying to figure out what note it would be.

"Higher."

His deep voice resounded, causing her to jump in surprise. Her widened eyes found his quickly as her mind seemed to come up blank.

Briefly thinking she was slow-minded, Itachi repeated himself, his voice laced with a slight irritation. "Go higher. It's too low."

She stared at him quietly for a moment before facing her harp again. Her fingers located a high note and plucked it in testing. "This one?"

"Too high." He replied.

Scrunching her lips together, she went to the next string and tried it before looking at him in curious anticipation.

"Try it."

She played a small part that led up to it, listening to see whether it sounded right. It didn't, but it was close.

Itachi seemed to think the same. "Go lower, but not too much."

Hinata obeyed, plucking a different string.

"No, go a little higher."

Obeying him once again, she plucked the next string expectantly. When Itachi remained silent, she decided to play. Sure enough, it sounded perfect to her ears.

The only acknowledgement that the demon gave was a nod of his head in approval.

Hinata smiled at him before continuing with her song, with Itachi assisting her at the parts she was stuck on.

Awhile later, Itachi stood, causing her to stop playing immediately. "Go back to your home. I'll expect you to have improved by tomorrow night."

Not allowing her to say anything in return, he left the meadow and disappeared from her sight.

Hinata understood and gave the wolf a pet of goodbye and a promise to return before she, herself, left the meadow…harp in arm and heart surprisingly satisfied.

* * *

**Wow. I didn't think I'd ever get this out. Sorry that it's been so long, but I haven't had the time for anything lately. Finals is next week for me, so after that, I'm hoping for some time to actually work on this story and start updating it faster.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you guys next update.**

**Please Review!**


	11. Farewell

**Author Note: **Sorry about the wait, as always, but I'm just thrilled that I managed to get this one done. Anyway, thanks for the reviews, and carry on!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto.

**Age Reminder: **Rookie nine: 7 years old. Neji, Tenten, and Lee: 8 years old. Kankuro: 9 years old. Temari: 10 years old.

**Time-Skip Info: **Many of you have asked about a time-skip. To answer your questions, yes, there will be a time-skip. As to when exactly, I'm not sure, but it's coming soon, I promise. Right now, I'm actually speeding things up a bit, so prepare yourself! :)

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter X**

**Farewell**

* * *

_"I hold this to be the highest task for a bond between two people: that each protects the solitude of the other."_

_- Rainer Maria Rilke_

"_The imperceptible thread of humanity still lingers over our heads and entwines with our hearts."_

_- A.L. Sharp_

_"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."_

_-Leo Buscaglia_

* * *

Yukio ran through the village streets, passed houses and soldiers, and passed the tall watchtower, until he finally entered the Lord's mansion. His speed didn't decrease as he sprinted through the halls. He only stopped when he entered the Lord's office, letting the door close behind him.

His breathing was labored as he saw one high-rank warrior off to the side, and Lord Sarutobi standing behind his desk, back facing the green-eyed boy. The Lord stood still, hands clasped behind his back as he stared out into the sunset.

"My Lord," Yukio began, his heart palpitating from the exercise. "What has happened? Our village army seems as though it's preparing for something. Everyone's tense. Even you look tense, my Lord."

Sarutobi slowly turned around to face the boy, his own face expressionless, yet focused.

Yukio inched forward. "Lord Sarutobi, please tell me what has happened. Have you gotten word about my parents yet?"

The Lord stayed silent as he bowed his head, sending his hand to pick up a single document from his desktop. "Word has been sent, and we are expecting our scout to be back soon."

Yukio could feel his heart pound nervously in his chest, but he couldn't speak.

The village leader gazed at him sympathetically. "There was…an attack, Yukio."

"An…My parents…"

Sarutobi nodded. "Your parent's squad, along with the allied squadrons, were attacked on their way to the massacred village."

He gulped. "Are…Are they alright?"

The older man's brows furrowed as he motioned his hand to a nearby chair. "Why don't you sit down."

The boy's emerald eyes widened. "They're not alright, are they? How…How badly were they injured? Are they being brought back here?"

"Yes…" He opened his mouth, but nothing further came out. He slowly approached the boy, resting his wrinkled hands on young shoulders. "I'm so sorry, Yukio…but…none of them are coming back alive."

Yukio felt his body freeze in shock. It was like his mind had to process the new information first before allowing the rest of the body to react. How was someone supposed to feel when they find out that their only family, their parents, are dead? All he felt was a large ripping pain in his chest, like a gaping hole was starting to appear. It hurt…it hurt a lot. He shook his head fervently, backing away from the leader. "No…no, no, no, no, no!" his legs felt weak as they trembled beneath him. "That can't be true…Dad, he…Father promised! Everything was supposed to be fine! Nothing was supposed to happen to them! You're lying!"

The warrior, who had been silent up to that point, stepped forward angrily. "Watch your tongue, boy. General Katsutoshi and your mother died honorably, and we are going to track down the demon who did this…especially if it's the same demon who destroyed that village in the first place."

Sarutobi sighed, glancing at the warrior solemnly. "It appears we were wrong about Itachi Uchiha being long gone from the area, if it is indeed him who did this. If that's the case," Sarutobi glared at the warrior. "No one is to leave the village. No civilians, no warriors, nobody, am I clear?" After seeing the man nod in reluctant understanding, he trailed his eyes back over to the young boy, his green eyes becoming moist from tears. "We've lost too many already." What puzzled the village leader, though, was the mere distressing thought that the infamous demon Itachi would actually stay in the area for that long. As far as his knowledge went, Itachi wasn't the type to do such a thing. He was hard to track down for a reason; that reason being that he was always on the move. If it was Itachi who killed those squadrons, what could possibly have possessed him to stay in the same area for that long?

"Demon…Itachi Uchiha…" Yukio felt his lips move to form the cursed words. "It was a demon that killed my parents…" His face contorted into a furious rage. "It's always demons!"

He could hear the village leader attempt to console him, but it was only background noise. His fists clenched as thoughts of vengeance swarmed his mind.

_I __**hate **__demons! Especially Itachi Uchiha._

* * *

Hinata couldn't understand why demons were portrayed as such fearsome beings and loathsome creatures. She liked Itachi; he was a good demon in her eyes. He could do no wrong. If he was so loathsome, why did he continually wait for her at the same time every night in the meadow? If he was supposed to be so fearsome, why did he always discretely help her when it came to perfecting her song? Sure, he was dangerous; she knew that—witnessed it, even. However, he hadn't harmed her…he hadn't even touched her yet. He knew her name, but never said it. In fact, he never really spoke, except to state something to get her moving.

Then again, it wasn't like Hinata was much of a talker either. The two only talked when necessary, but it was enough. Despite her being only seven and him a heartless demon, there existed a respect between them, one in which both were grateful. If one were to analyze them thoroughly, it would almost be easy to say that there did indeed exist some kind of relationship between them as well. It wasn't romance and it couldn't be friendship, for friendship couldn't possibly dwell between a demon and a human, much less a deity, right?

Whatever the case, Hinata didn't mind. She continued with what became a routine to her. She'd go about her daily activities, alongside Neji, until the sun had set, which was when she'd escape to the meadow with her harp to perform for her demon friend. This continued for days and weeks and even months. She would occasionally bring food that she managed to sneak from the kitchen, allowing her and the wolf to eat during the few hours they all spent together. Itachi, of course, never ate anything she brought, saying that he didn't like human food. Mr. Wolf didn't seem to mind, even though he seemed to always beg for any type of meat she brought.

Other than that, Itachi and Hinata spent the time working on her song until after a couple of months, she had it finished. Every night after that, she would sit in the meadow, with Itachi lounging against a nearby boulder, as she played her made-up song, smoothing over any mistakes. It was the song that Itachi inwardly preferred she play, but he allowed her to practice any other songs she liked, for he wasn't the only one she had to perform for. He ignored the small pang of anger that sparked at that knowledge.

Eventually, as time wore on, both Itachi and Hinata unintentionally grew a liking towards each other; some could even call it an attachment of sorts.

Gradually, it became easier for Hinata to talk to him without worrying how he might react, and Itachi grew more used to her innocent rambling and inquisitive questions. He would briefly wonder if she were like that where she lived. She always seemed like such a quiet little thing…but not with him.

He would also wonder if she smiled as much as she did when she was in the meadow with him and the wolf. She smiled…and giggled…grinned timidly…laughed out loud…blushed in embarrassment…The little deity was so expressive, something he wasn't an expert at. Yet, somehow, they…got along…enjoyed each other's company, to a certain point anyway…for him, of course.

And shockingly, especially to Itachi, Hinata didn't seem to be afraid of him anymore. It was like him being a demon had no affect on her when it clearly should have. She was simple and confusing at the same time—so average, yet intriguing. At least, in his blood-red eyes she was.

Time continued to pass, and on Hinata's eighth birthday, she ran to the meadow as soon as everyone was asleep and the adults were busy with their nightly meetings. For the first time, she did not bring her harp. Instead, underneath one of her arms, she carried a small box with leftover birthday cake inside in order to share with Itachi and Mr. Wolf.

When she arrived at the meadow, Itachi and the wolf were already there, with Itachi leaning casually against a tree and Mr. Wolf being the first to greet her. "Hi, Mr. Wolf. What did you do today?"

He barked in reply before sitting down to watch her.

Hinata giggled and ran over to Itachi, holding the box out in front of her as if offering it to him. "Itachi, it's my birthday today. I'm eight now, and they made me a cake and everything, and then I blew out the candles and made a wish. I got presents too! Do you wanna know what Neji got me?"

He raised a brow, face not forming any sense of an expression. "Hn."

"He got me a necklace, and it's really, really pretty. I didn't wear it, though…" She trailed off glumly. "Miss Kurenai said that it's bre-brea-breakable, and that I need to be careful with it..."

"Mm." He couldn't ignore the second's worth of an upward lift in his lips at her struggle with saying "breakable". His eyes found the unknown box she was holding. "What is that."

"Huh?" She gazed down to where his eyes were looking, and her face brightened. "Oh! It's my birthday cake. I brought some for you and Mr. Wolf. It's really good, I promise."

"I don't eat human food." He replied in a clipped tone.

"But…it's cake." She rationalized. "Everybody likes cake…don't they?" she tilted her head, her brows furrowed gently.

It was becoming harder for him to resist how his mouth always seemed to want to curve upward whenever she said such things full of innocence and naivete. To distract him, he thought to point out the obvious. "You didn't bring your harp."

She shook her head while smiling. "Nope. Since it's my birthday, I wanna watch the moon tonight until I have to go to sleep."

His eyebrows pulled together. "The moon."

"Mhm." Her smile grew before she peered upwards into the sky where the full moon was shining more brightly than she had ever seen. "I love looking at the moon…so…" she glanced back to him, hiding her eyes beneath her bangs shyly. "Can we?"

With only a quick nod of his head, which wouldn't have been noticeable to anyone who hadn't been around him for awhile, Hinata smiled widely before walking to the middle of the meadow. She sat down, noticing the wolf come over to lie by her and Itachi move to sit a few feet of distance from her. Opening her box, she laid a piece of cake down in front of her wolf companion and handed the other piece to her demon friend.

Mr. Wolf ate his piece quickly, while Itachi only seemed to stare at his piece that was resting on his palm. He picked at a few parts of it, taking the strange substance into his mouth, before laying it on the ground next to him. Human food was definitely not his forte, even though the cake wasn't exactly terrible…

"Isn't it beautiful?" Hinata remarked with her ivory eyes never leaving the sight of the moon.

Itachi didn't say anything, save for gazing at her in silent wonder before looking at the moon as well.

A few moments of silence passed before Hinata's soft voice spoke up again. "Miss Kurenai taught us about the different moons. My favorite is the full moon. What's your favorite moon, Itachi?"

He turned his gaze back to her curious face. "I don't have a favorite. The moon is the moon."

"But there are different moons." She argued delicately. "There's the full moon, and the half moon…and there's a new moon, too. The new moon is all black."

To satiate her want for him to have a favorite, he decided quickly. "Then my favorite shall be the new moon."

"But it's so dark, and there's no light."

"That doesn't matter."

"I think the dark is scary. I feel safer in the light."

"The light won't protect you."

She smiled solemnly. "No…but people can see things better when there's light in their world."

His dark red eyes found her face again, and he for once didn't bother to control the emotions on his face. Not like it mattered, since she was staring earnestly at the moon instead. He was astonished, though. This little girl of seven—no—eight years old was possibly more wise than the majority of centenarian demons he knew, albeit unintentionally.

"Wow…" Hinata's quiet gasp brought his mind back to reality.

Itachi looked her over, trying to figure out what was holding her attention now. She was on her hands and knees across from him, staring intently at his chest. His brow raised in question.

Her small, round face seemed to brighten in intrigue. "Your necklace is so pretty, Itachi."

Realization dawned on him as to what held her attention so well, and it really shouldn't have surprised him. The "necklace" he wore was more like a thin silver chain with the strangest of pendants attached to it.

At closer inspection, Hinata could see that it was in the shape of a teardrop, and seemed to be made of glass. It was hard to tell, though, since it was the color of blood, the color of Itachi's eyes, and…it carried a tiny glow to it, barely visible to the naked eye and only in the darkness of night.

It was simple to see how easily it fascinated her, and in some odd way…her reaction fascinated him in return, which was quite unusual to Itachi Uchiha, the infamous cold-hearted demon.

Hinata's eyes flew up to his with a small smile tugging at her excited lips. "Where did you get it, Itachi?"

"It was given to me when I was young. Only those with pure, Uchiha demon blood have these chains."

"Really?" Her head tilted curiously. "Why?"

"It is to signify that we, demons, are Uchihas, superior to all in power."

Her face slowly began to scrunch up into confusion. "So…everyone in your family gets one?"

His eyes narrowed fractionally. "It doesn't work like that. Only those in my clan who are undeniably strong get one of these pendants to signify that, and it can only be given on the day that an Uchiha demon awakens his abilities."

Sitting down in front of him with her legs folded under her and her small hands clasped on her lap, she tried to really understand all that he was telling her. It was confusing, but she felt that she was at least getting most of it…she hoped, anyway. "Okay…" She began to smile. "So, it's like a reward, right? When you get your powers, your family rewards you. And they give you…" She trailed off, furrowing her brows at the pendant before meeting his eyes again. "Red glass, right?"

A barely noticeable sigh escaped his lips as he removed the chain from around his neck, holding it out for her to see clearly. "It's not glass, it's diamond."

Her eyes widened, since she actually knew what a diamond was. "Is it a red diamond?" She asked excitedly, never before imagining that there could be a red diamond.

His expression and voice stayed flat. "No. It's just a diamond with blood inside…my blood."

Their eyes met, her's filled with wonder before she audibly gulped. "Why…?" she whispered.

His voice lowered in tone and volume, red eyes never leaving her face as if waiting for something to happen in her expression. "When an Uchiha demon's powers awaken, their blood changes so as to adapt to the new powers. At that moment for me, this amount of blood was taken from me and encased in diamond."

Oblivious to whatever he was going to say next, Hinata spoke up with that never-ending inquisitive nature of hers. "It glows, though. There's a small light there, see? What is that?"

He almost forgot about that small glow. He attempted to explain it in a way that she would understand, even though the whole process was more complicated than she could even imagine at her age. "It is a small portion of my energy, my power. Within my blood and within that diamond, it will never disappear."

Against his expectations, her expression actually showed amazement. He watched her gulp as her fingers unconsciously reached to touch the mysterious gem. Not minding either way, he released the gem, chain and all, into her small hand for her to gaze at for as long as she wished. Her petite digits smoothed over the surface of the diamond, watching as that diminutive light stayed as brilliant as ever; it was utterly resplendent.

She lay on the grass of the meadow, holding the chain over her head, allowing her eyes to become enchanted by the sight. Mr. Wolf lay asleep near her, as if protecting the side of her that Itachi wasn't, and Itachi remained in the same position he had started in. Leaning his back against the boulder, his legs extended out in front of him, arms crossed over his chest, eyes switching between the moon and the deity. Hinata, of course, was lying just next to Itachi with only a few inches of distance between their bodies. It was silent between them, but peaceful.

"Itachi?" Hinata spoke up suddenly, her mind still focused on the blood-filled diamond.

"Hn," He grunted in reply.

"I know why you like the new moon, now…"

He didn't grunt that time, only turned his eyes on her to await her answer.

For the first time since the gem was placed in her hands, she turned to him with a gentle smile playing at her lips. "Because even when it's really, really dark, you'll always have a light with you to keep you safe." She motioned to the light that glowed within the diamond. "That's why you're never scared. Your necklace protects you, right?"

He didn't reply to that. After staring at her for a moment longer, he hesitantly turned his eyes away from her and turned to the moon instead. _Innocence of the young…_A corner of his lips quirked. _Never ceases to amuse._

--

Hinata had fallen asleep easily, but not in her bed, or even in her village. Under the full luminosity of the moonlight, Hinata was asleep, curled into herself with the necklace held tightly between her hands. Her short, dark hair was fanned around her, and she shivered whenever a breeze rolled by, causing her to subconsciously move closer to the nearest heat source, which just happened to be Itachi.

He had realized that she should be at her home, since it had already been a few hours, and those at her temple might start wondering. He automatically made a decision before—unusually—not thinking it through all the way. Standing up, he bent back down and picked the little girl up into his arms, seeing her cradle herself against his warm chest.

The wolf awoke quickly, sensing the deity's presence missing from his side, and growled distinctly at the demon who was holding his mistress.

Itachi paid the animal no mind, while he began to leave the meadow in the direction of the Konoha walls, or more specifically, where the temple was located.

It wasn't difficult either, since he knew her scent, and only had to follow the trail she had unknowingly made. The trail led him to a break in the trees and the looming, stone wall of Konoha village only a few yards away. He was hesitant, though, shown by his knotted brows. Wasn't there supposed to be some kind of barrier, halting all demons from coming close to the walls? The goddess created it herself, and with such power that demons reported being able to feel the energy as they approached the invisible barrier.

Itachi didn't feel anything. It was a normal wall it seemed.

Experimentally, he edged closer to it, still sensing nothing, the wolf sitting back a few paces away.

He was only a few inches from the wall, and when nothing had affected him, he re-situated Hinata, allowing one of his hands to move forward to press against the stone.

Nothing happened, except for the slight chill that came from the rock. Having confirmed with himself that nothing was possibly going to happen, he leaped to the very top of the wall, now being able to peer over the grounds of the temple, and the temple itself, of course. There was barely any illumination coming from the temple windows and balconies, signaling that most of the occupants were in deep slumber.

His demon eyes quickly scoured the area for any sign of someone on guard, watching out for intruders like him. Crouching down onto his heels, he breathed in through his nose, trying to locate which room (or balcony, more like it) belonged to the dark-haired deity in his arms.

It didn't take long to find, and even less time for him to make another impossible leap over to her balcony, landing expertly on the railing before stepping down onto the floor. From there, he silently neared her bed, peeling back the covers, and laying her down before throwing the covers back over her body. She didn't even stir once.

Once she seemed settled in, he leaned over her, pulling his chain from her barely tight grasp. That's when she moved over onto her side, took a deep breath, and relaxed again. It wasn't until then that Itachi realized he had gone tense at her movement. Inwardly shaking off his body's weird reactions, he claimed the chain back around his neck before turning on his heel toward the balcony. Jumping onto the railing, he glanced back at her once more before leaping into the air and settling himself on the top of the surrounding Konoha walls. A bark sounded in the air and Itachi disappeared over the wall and away from his deity's village.

It suddenly hit him when he arrived back at his cave that…perhaps—no—indubitably…he was finally, and for the first time, forming an attachment to someone…to a little, human girl no less.

Was that even possible for him?

* * *

As the sun was setting the following day, Itachi received a visitor. It really shouldn't have surprised him, but it did agitate him. "What now, Kisame?" he murmured from within the shelter of his cave, lit up by the small fire.

The blue-skinned shark demon leaned against the side of the cave wall, grinning at the other demon with his sharp teeth glinting from the fire. "Sorry that I didn't come awhile ago when I said I would. I've been a bit busy, so I thought I'd make the trip now that all my business is done."

Itachi moved passed him, exiting his temporary residence. "Say what you need to say, and then leave."

Kisame chuckled, following after the Uchiha. "As you know, I had to go to that village on the east shore as back-up." He shrugged. "It didn't take long to settle our account with the village, but a lot of my fellow shark demons were there. You know how family reunions go, and that's what ended up taking so long."

Itachi kept walking, acting as though he wasn't even paying attention to the strangely colored demon behind him.

"Anyway," Kisame smirked toothily. "I went back to the hideout for awhile before that wonderful leader of ours sent me on a mission to find you, so I could give you a message…or an order, more like it."

"What." Itachi grounded out, turning on his heel to face him.

Kisame's face contorted into one that could almost mimic Itachi's usual expression. The only difference being that his eyes narrowed fractionally. "To be honest with you, Itachi, I was quite surprised to find you here…still. Knowing you, you would've moved on long ago, which makes me wonder what's keeping you here, especially so close to Konoha."

"It doesn't matter. Give me the message and stop wasting my time."

The only movement Kisame made was his arms crossing over his broad chest. "He wants us all back at the hideout. Apparently, something big is happening, and we're all going to be needed."

"For what?" Itachi's jaw tensed.

The shark demon shook his head. "Couldn't tell ya. We'll be informed when we get there, and it's urgent."

"Urgent how."

"As in…we're supposed to leave…now." He saw Itachi's face gradually form into a heated scowl. Wanting to ensure his own life, he backtracked. "Or, in the next forty-eight hours or so. No more than that, though."

Itachi relaxed unknowingly and nodded in understanding. "Very well. You can expect me there in a few days time—"

"Actually, I can just wait for ya. Whenever you're ready, we'll head out."

Itachi met his gaze, suddenly not liking the prospect of another demon on his grounds…

"Oh, and another thing." Kisame interrupted his train of thought. "You seem…different."

A raised brow was the only answer he received.

Kisame quirked his own brow in confusion. "I mean, you seem…calm…like you're at peace or something…it's really weird."

Itachi was extremely tempted to roll his eyes.

The blue demon's nose visibly inhaled deeply. "And I ain't real good with scents on land or anything, but…your own scent is kinda off."

"Really."

"Yeah. It's like, uh…" His hand covered his chin in thought. "Well, I don't even know. It's just…different, and it's kind of freaking me out. I think you've spent a little too much time in this area and away from slaughtering humans."

The Uchiha actually sighed, albeit imperceptibly. "Just leave, Kisame…and don't bother me until I'm ready to depart."

"Yeah, yeah." He waved it off. "Actually, I was going to go find something to snack on." He laughed loudly. "Wish me luck on the hunting!"

It wasn't until his fellow demon disappeared that Itachi realized that his hands were clenched into fists, and he didn't feel as calm as Kisame assumed he was.

He definitely did not like the idea of another demon in his territory…especially with the little deity so close by.

* * *

Hinata was ecstatic that she was actually able to sneak out earlier than usual. She knew it was a risk to go earlier, but she couldn't help it. She loved going to the meadow, and she loved just the idea of being able to see her two friends, one a wolf and the other a demon.

Of course, it took her awhile to get over the slight confusion she had that morning when she awoke in her own bed, since she remembered falling asleep in-between Itachi and Mr. Wolf. She could only assume that Itachi had somehow brought her back to the temple. As to how it happened, how he managed to get through the demon-proof barrier, she had no clue. But, she did hope that he wasn't injured in the process.

Either way, she'd find out in a moment as she was approaching the small clearing in the forest. Breaking through the trees, her harp clutched tightly to her chest and caged in by her arms, she glanced around once before stopping dead in her tracks. Perhaps, she should've waited and came later…much later.

By coming early, she was in for a huge surprise. For, it wasn't Itachi who she saw first in the meadow…it was someone else. A tall…man, maybe…with blue skin, and…he kind of resembled a fish in some ways.

He noticed her quickly, and within seconds, his finely sharpened row of teeth was shown on display due to his predatory grin. "Well, lookey here. How lucky of me. I always did like human meat the best, and little girls just taste so…sweet." He cackled sardonically before crouching down in order to pounce on his soon-to-be prey. "Finally, a good meal, and it came to me so willingly."

Hinata's eyes widened to an impossible degree as she gulped in fright. Her harp fell to the ground at her feet, just as her entire body seemed to freeze in fear. The only movement she felt was the quick beating of her heart. _Oh no…_

The man-creature laughed again while sniffing the air delicately as if savoring the scent that filled his nostrils. His wide grin was devilish…and hungry, which was also made clear by his glowing yellow eyes.

Angling his body toward her, he leaped off the ground, heading straight to his prey, arms extended outward.

Hinata quickly closed her eyes tightly shut, covered her face with her arms, and screamed.

Something soft brushed against her arms, and when nothing else came, she quieted down until she was able to hear a loud growling just in front of her.

Slowly peeking her eyes open, a very furry tail was brushing against her arms to match Mr. Wolf's large and very threatening body, standing protectively in front of her. The wolf's entire body was tense like a spring, shoulders heightened, paws digging into the ground, and sharp teeth on display. He growled loudly before barking a few times in warning.

Hinata stared on with her eyes staying as wide as they were a moment ago. "M-Mr. Wolf?" Looking ahead, she saw the blue man standing erect a few paces from the animal, glaring at it with disdain.

"I can never just enjoy my meal in peace, can I?" Quickly, his glare transformed into a familiar wide smile. "Although, I wouldn't mind having an appetizer first. After all, it's been awhile since I've eaten a little wolf." He cackled, not caring that the wolf was ready to pounce on him for an attack. The man sobered from his laughing quickly, and readied himself for another attack, except his target was a mere animal. An entertained smirk never left his blue face, even as he only took one step closer, causing the wolf to nearly fly at him.

Kisame stood still, except for putting one arm up in front of his body, as the wolf lunged at him, jaw stretched open. The wolf's teeth sunk into Kisame's offered arm, but the bite didn't seem to faze him. With a swing of his arm, the wolf lost his grip and stumbled a few feet back before going in for another attack.

Tiring quickly of the "fearless" wolf, Kisame poised himself, waiting for the wolf to come into contact with him before he moved his body expertly, allowing his hand to wrap tightly around the wolf's throat. Now, the wolf was suspended in mid-air while being choked by the demon he was trying to protect his mistress from.

"That's enough out of you." Kisame muttered before tossing the wolf at an unbreakable speed, right into the trunk of a large tree. The wolf whined at the impact before falling silent when he collapsed to the ground at the tree's base.

Sudden tears sprung up in Hinata's eyes as her bottom lip began to tremble. "Mr. Wolf!" She cried, running toward him as fast as she could. Only a few feet from reaching her animal friend, she halted, skidding on her heels before falling on her behind at the sudden appearance of the blue man, who was currently blocking her from going any further.

Hinata stood up hastily, and began to walk backwards just as the blue man was walking toward her with evenly sedated steps. Looking at his predatory glare, more tears escaped her moonstone eyes as she bit her lip to keep in any whimpers. "P-Please…stop…"

He chuckled cruelly. "I'm hungry, so there will be no stopping until I'm full and satisfied. Although, I can't get started on my appetizer if my main meal keeps wanting to run away." He shrugged nonchalantly. "So, I suppose that I'll just have to incapacitate you until I'm done with your wolf friend over there."

She shook her head savagely. "N-No…please…don't hurt Mr. Wolf…"

"Don't worry, sweetheart." He chuckled again. "Nobody ever said you had to watch."

Quickening her pace, Hinata gasped when something interfered with her walking, causing her to fall on her behind again. Looking at what she managed to trip over, she saw that it was her harp that she had dropped when this all began. Not giving it any more of her attention, she used her hands and feet to scoot back immediately, away from her harp and away from the blue man. Her eyes drifted to her harp again when she saw him purposely step heavily onto it, snapping a few of the strings.

Breathing hard, she forced her body to stand up again before a whimper left her mouth as she turned on her heel to run.

Kisame only widened his smile at the new cat and mouse game and pushed off the ground, running toward her at a breakneck speed.

Seeing him only one second from reaching her, Hinata closed her eyes and screamed while trying to run faster.

Kisame smiled again as he reached his hand back before swinging his arm around, aiming for the vital point on her exposed neck. Strangely, though, she somehow disappeared into thin air millimeters before his fingers would even touch her. He stopped running and searched the air around him angrily, trying to pinpoint her scent. His own eyes widened in astonishment when he detected another scent mixed in. His demon ears picked up on a soundless thud against the ground fifteen or twenty feet behind him. Slowly turning around, he saw a sight he thought he would never behold in his entire lifetime.

Itachi was there, scowling at him with a hidden threat as one of his arms was wrapped around the small body of the little deity. Hinata's little arms circled Itachi's neck while she hid her face in the hollow of his neck, her whole body shaking from fear.

Kisame's smirk became strained. "That's not fair, Itachi. It goes against the demon honor code to steal another's meal. I saw her first, so she's mine."

Itachi's red eyes changed as the three black commas began to spin rapidly. He didn't realize that his grip on the girl had tightened as well. "No."

Forming his blue face into a pouting frown, Kisame crossed his arms over his chest. "Damn it. Okay, okay…how about…we split her half and half?"

A short growl managed to surpass Itachi's lips before his spat his reply through his gritted teeth. "No."

"Well, that's just not fair then!"

While Kisame continued to shout deals at the other demon, Itachi felt Hinata lift her head from his neck. Her eyes found his as more tears threatened to spill over her rosy cheeks. "I-Itachi…W-Who is that man? W-What is h-he? What d-does he want?" She sniffed and trembled in his arms. "He hurt Mr. Wolf for…for no reason!"

Itachi just stared at her emotionlessly for a moment before glancing over to the rambling blue man. "His name is Kisame, and he's a demon like me."

Hinata's face scrunched together in confusion. "But…he's blue."

"He's a shark demon."

"Oh…"

"Also, he obviously sought you as a meal, but that won't be happening." He lowered her to the ground, reclaiming his arms to his sides. "Now, stand behind me."

Hinata nodded and hid behind him, only peeking her head out to watch in curiosity at what her demon friend was going to do. One of her petite hands clenched onto his dark cape as the rest of her body pushed against his hidden leg. Her white eyes, however, didn't turn away from the strangely colored demon.

Kisame looked at the pair with frustrated confusion until it was clear that his face brightened at a new realization. He glanced between them both with an amazed look before looking down at the ground below his feet, as if contemplating something. When his eyes looked at them again, he ran a hand through his short blue hair and laughed hysterically. His shoulders shook as he bent over to rest his hands on his upper knees. "Un…believable…!"

Hinata tilted her head in even more confusion than before. "What's so funny?"

Itachi remained silent, but brooding. _I'm a fool for interfering. _

Kisame straightened and shook his head humorously at his fellow demon. "Well, well…What a surprise! I think I finally understand what kept you here for so long." His yellow eyes glanced down to Hinata. "You've become attached to a little human girl." He laughed loudly again. "Never thought I'd see the day…when the 'cold-hearted' Itachi Uchiha would become attached to anything! And now…I find you attached to none other than a small…human…girl, of all things."

"That's enough, Kisame." Itachi could feel his anger boiling up inside of him.

"Now…let's see if I can get this right." He looked around him with his hand to his chin in thought. "Konoha is really close to here, so I'm guessing that's where the girl is from. Also, I sense power from her, which would mean…that she's a deity." He was staring at Hinata again. "It's been awhile since the fight with the last generation of deities. I suppose it's starting all over again." He shrugged with a large smile. "Well, this at least explains why your scent seemed kind of off."

"Leave, Kisame. I'll catch up with you later."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm still hungry, though."

"Then go eat somewhere else."

Kisame sighed before nodding. "Whatever. I guess I'll just pick something up on the way. There's a village thirty miles northwest from here. Meet me there."

Itachi nodded his head once, and didn't look away until Kisame smirked before disappearing into the forest. His red eyes stared at one spot for awhile before exhaling out his nose with his eyes closed. Glancing back behind him, he saw Hinata glance up at him quickly before running toward her injured wolf friend. The Uchiha demon watched as she placed her ear on the wolf's chest, listening for a heartbeat. She sat up within a moment and began hovering her glowing hands over the animal's body, healing whatever injury she saw and felt.

Awhile later, she sat back on her heels, wrapping her arms around her legs, and sighed in exhaustion. Her wolf friend was alive, but she knew he would need his sleep…and a lot of it, too.

Itachi began to walk toward her, stopping after a few steps when his eyes caught onto something off to his left. Reaching down to pick it up, he saw that it was Hinata's harp. He also noticed that a good amount of the strings were torn. Clasping it with one hand, he approached the little girl from behind, standing next to her with the harp outstretched toward her.

Hinata glanced up and received the harp solemnly, cradling it in her arms. Her eyes continued to gaze sadly at her sleeping animal friend, but she spoke to Itachi. "Why…are you different from other demons?"

"I'm not." He murmured quietly, staring at her from the corner of his eye. "In normal circumstances, I would've sought to kill you, too."

Her eyes flew up to meet his in hurt surprise. "Really? But…you…you would never hurt me…you wouldn't…"

"The only reason I didn't harm you was because you…"

"Healed your owies?" Hinata finished his sentence questioningly.

He nodded, trying not to react to her word version of wounds. "However, most demons aren't as…honorable as I am. They would've killed you regardless, just as I should've done, for that is what demons do. Demons and humans…demons and deities…are supposed to be enemies, nothing more."

Her eyes lowered gravely. "So…we can't be friends?"

He kneeled down beside her, one arm resting on his knee, and eyes staring intensely into her own. "We are supposed to be enemies. We are supposed to want to kill each other. That is how it is."

Hinata shook her head. "No! I don't want to be enemies!" She leaped up, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, burying her face back into his neck. "I love you, Itachi. You're my friend. People can't hurt the ones they love."

For a brief moment there, Itachi's eyes widened in shock. He wasn't expecting her to initiate contact with him so bravely, and he sure as hell wasn't expecting to hear that she cared for him so much and even referred to him as a friend, which he didn't want to agree with at all.

Either way, he was also quite surprised with himself that he didn't hate how she fit into his arms, and how he didn't mind the way her warm breath blew against the skin on his neck. The tips of his fingers tested the feel of her dark hair, causing him to be even more surprised at how he might actually like how the strands of her hair interlaced silkily around his fingers. And her body…it was so tiny, so fragile…so breakable. He felt that if he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed just barely, she would break in half. His hands had never done anything so gentle, so harmless; he was barely touching her, for he could surely hurt her easily, without even trying.

Her scent…was intriguing and unique. He could sense her coming from the moment she exited Konoha. Her scent seemed to drift to him quicker than it was possible, and just smelling it managed to make him inhale deeply. No mortal…or even demon…had ever smelled so appealing before. She smelled as pure as innocence, as intoxicating as liquor, as carefree as the wind, and as tender as flower petals. All of that was centered around her unique opal eyes, mimicking the moon she loved so much.

_Damn it. Kisame was right… _Itachi was becoming attached.

Nevertheless, he knew he had to tell her the recent news. From what Kisame was telling him, he guessed that the leader was calling them for a new campaign that was going to start. Guessing again, he had no doubt that it would take awhile to finish, no matter how skilled they were. On that note, he knew he would be gone for years, not seeing her for the duration of the newest mission. He couldn't refuse it, either. It was his duty as a demon, his duty as an Uchiha.

Pushing her off of him gently, he narrowed his eyes at her searchingly, trying to determine the best way to make her understand. She was very young, after all.

"What is it, Itachi? What's wrong?" She asked in a concerned whisper.

No hesitation, no reluctance. Itachi was strong and cold-hearted, and nothing could ever faze him in the least. He answered quickly, and with stone-cold resolve. It was time to say goodbye. "I'm leaving."

"Oh…so…I'll see you tomorrow night, then?"

"No." He watched carefully as her eyebrows slowly began to furrow and a flash of wounded curiosity shown in her eyes. "I'm leaving for the north at sunrise."

Her eyes began to wander. "H-How long…will you be gone for?"

"As long as it takes. It'll be awhile before I come back."

Her entire face brightened as she smiled. "You'll come back and see me?" she asked excitedly.

He gave a short, quick nod in reply.

Hinata's smile faded to be replaced by a pout of confusion. "How will you find me?"

The corner of his mouth twitched into a light smirk. "It will not be difficult." He gave a quick glance to the golden harp before meeting her innocent eyes again. "On every full moon night, play your song and I will find you."

She glanced at her harp as well. "But…it's broken."

"So fix it."

She blushed in embarrassment at making such excuses. Hinata nodded in assent. "Okay, Itachi."

He looked away for a quick moment in thought before turning back to her. "I need you to promise me something."

Her head tilted before she smiled and nodded happily. "Okay! I like promises, and I'm really good at keeping them."

"Then…" He paused. "Promise me…that you will not come here to this meadow until I return."

Her smile disappeared.

"Promise me that you will stay in Konoha for as long as I'm gone. I will not be here to protect you from other demons like I did today, so stay in your village, understood?"

Despite being depressed at the news, she did understand and nodded her head to show him. "I promise, Itachi."

"Promise what." He demanded.

"I promise that I will stay in Konoha for as long…as you're gone."

"Good." He stood up and turned around, straightening his cloak, expression on his face never changing.

"Itachi?" A quiet voice called out to him.

He turned back around to face her, waiting for her to speak.

"Um…" She bit her lip while fiddling with her fingers nervously. "Can I…" she gulped. "Can I stay with you…until you have to leave…please?"

He didn't speak or even move. Hinata forced herself to look up at him, wondering why he wasn't answering her. The wheels in his mind were turning despite the vacant expression on his face. If she hadn't been watching him, she wouldn't have noticed his single nod of consent.

If he hadn't been watching her so intensely, he wouldn't have noticed the amazingly happy smile that lit her features oh so delicately.

--

By the time the sun had set, Mr. Wolf had finally awoken, only to curl up next to Hinata and fall asleep again in exhaustion. She felt relieved to know that he was okay, but saddened at the prospect of not being able to see her wolf friend until Itachi returned. It would be so lonely without them.

She couldn't help her mind focusing on the soon-to-be loss of her demon friend and Mr. Wolf. With her head resting on one of Itachi's legs (without his permission, might I add), she gazed dazedly at the night sky above her, the moon acting as a beacon for all the twinkling stars. Itachi switched between staring at the forest surrounding him, the moon, the stars, and the little deity resting on him. He had grown used to spending these nights listening to her play that song on her harp, just for him. It was true that he didn't like staying in one area for so long, and this was perhaps the reason why. If he stayed, there would be a chance that he would become attached to that certain place…or to a certain someone, and that was just unacceptable for a demon like him.

Leaving would be best, for it would give him time to sever whatever bond might have been formed with the girl. It wasn't wise what he had been doing for awhile. The consequences would be dire…and not just for him, either.

--

When Hinata had fallen asleep, he picked her up into his arms and departed for Konoha for the second time. He jumped on top of the high wall, searched for anyone's presence nearby, and leaped onto her balcony. He placed her in her bed, but she woke up just as he tossed the covers on top of her.

"Itachi…?" she mumbled sleepily.

"Hn,"

"Is it…sunrise already?"

"No."

"You're leaving now?"

"Yes."

She sat up in alarm. "But…you said that I could stay with you until sunrise."

"Quiet down. You're going to draw attention." He scolded her, ignoring what she had said.

She lowered her voice into a whisper. "Can't I be with you until sunrise?"

"Go to sleep."

"Please?"

"Go back to sleep, Hinata." His own voice grew tight, as it always did when he had to repeat himself.

"No." She retorted in determination.

Getting over the momentary surprise he felt at the way she answered him so disrespectfully, so unlike her, he stalked toward her threateningly. "If you go to sleep now, I will stay until sunrise."

"Promise?"

Reluctantly, he nodded. "I swear."

She beamed at him tiredly, just before she laid her head back down onto her pillow, her eyes halfway closed.

As she lay there, he recalled something that he wanted to do before she fell asleep and before he left. Reaching around his neck swiftly, he removed the significant chain and jewel. "Take this."

After receiving it, Hinata stared in disbelief at the familiar gem lying on her palm. "What…do I do with it?"

"Wear it, obviously." He deadpanned.

"I can?"

"Until I come back." He watched as she put it on, letting it fall on her chest. "You must always wear it, and never take it off."

"Okay, I will." She smiled.

"You have to keep it against your skin, otherwise it's useless." He ordered, making sure she slipped it under her gown, so that the gem was truly resting against her skin. "It will protect you when I am unable to."

She nodded in understanding, resting her head back against the pillow, feeling her eyes start to droop. She reached out, grasping onto his wrist and pulling it closer to her, before allowing her eyes to close. "I'll really miss you, Itachi…Don't forget me…okay…?"

If he had replied, it would've been pointless since she had quickly fallen asleep. He had done what he could to ensure her safety, knowing that if he didn't, it would only agitate him later on.

His lips twitched upward just before a breathy chuckle escaped his lips. He shook his head, massaging the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb. _I've become a real fool._

Itachi stayed there until the sun was beginning to rise and he felt a presence nearing the bedroom. Disappearing quickly, he didn't stop until he had reached the familiar meadow. He only hesitated for a few seconds before embarking to the village that Kisame spoke of. From the moment she had fallen asleep underneath her covers to the place he was running in currently, one thought continued to echo in his mind, and he knew it was true.

_Humans and demons were never meant to coexist peacefully._

It's just plain wrong to get attached to one's enemy.

His fists clenched at his sides.

_I will not be so foolish any longer…_

* * *

**Okay, so there will be a little time-skip next chapter, followed by another one soon after. **

**The foundation has been laid, so now it's time to start building!**

**Please review and I'll see you all next update!**


	12. Interlude

**Author Note: **Thanks for the reviews! The entire time I was writing this chapter, I had James Horner's "Last of the Mohicans" song playing in the background. It's a surprisingly very inspirational song, something I need to play more often. :)

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XI**

**Interlude**

* * *

_"Very often melancholy is the memory of a kiss not given."_

_-Unknown_

"_As you grow older, you'll find the only things you regret are the things you didn't do."_

_-Zachary Scott_

"_People so seldom say I love you And then it's either too late or love goes. So when I tell you I love you, It doesn't mean I know you'll never go, Only that I wish you didn't have to."_

_-Unknown_

* * *

"_I'm leaving."_

"_H-How long…will you be gone for?"_

"_As long as it takes. It'll be awhile before I come back."_

"_How will you find me?"_

"_On every full moon night, play your song and I will find you."_

"_I promise that I will stay in Konoha for as long…as you're gone."_

_A chain and diamond with a demon's blood._

"_You must always wear it, and never take it off." _

"_It will protect you when I am unable to."_

"_I'll really miss you, Itachi…Don't forget me…okay…?"_

_--_

Before the sun had risen entirely, she had woken alertly, and without pause, ran from her room. Entering the courtyard, she didn't slow until she approached the bush she had memorized by heart. Collapsing onto her knees, breathing hard from panic, she dug her fingers through the bush until she was able to feel the cold contact from the stone wall.

She crawled through the bush, ignoring the harsh scrapes against her delicate skin. She knew where it was, the hole in the wall, her escape to the meadow. She knew where it was exactly.

So then…why wasn't it there?

It was gone. Completely covered up by stone as if it had never been there in the first place. If she had looked closer, she would've noticed that the stones were new, and it had recently been filled in.

Tears filled her eyes as a pained sob wracked through her small body. "It's not there…where did it go? Did Itachi…? Why would he do this?"

"**Promise me that you will stay in Konoha for as long as I'm gone. I will not be here to protect you from other demons like I did today, so stay in your village, understood?"**

She would've kept her promise, but it was the mere thought of not having that escape available to her that wounded her so deeply. It was like she was permanently blocked off from ever seeing Mr. Wolf and Itachi ever again. She would never see her precious meadow…the memories there were blocked over just like the once damaged wall.

So little sleep and so little energy…her eyes began to droop and her body became lax. She slowly fell to the ground on her side, one of her tear-stained cheeks mixing with the dirt.

Unwillingly, she ended up crying herself to sleep.

"Itachi…"

Within her subconscious, she vaguely felt as though something was wrapping around her entire body, covering nearly everything except for her head.

She was being lifted and carried, but she didn't know where until she felt a familiar bed underneath her body, covers following after.

A pale hand reached out, brushing small fingers against the strange gem appearing from over her gown. Demon energy and power…demon blood…very powerful demon blood.

It shouldn't have been so surprising…especially the way that the gem glowed warningly every time the fingers came closer.

Hinata's eyes opened blearily, trying to catch a glimpse of the person near her. Her blurry vision was only able to make out unruly hair and an emotionless mask of indifference…but, no…there was a hint of concern there…and protection.

Her eyes closed in grief at the memory of a demon friend of hers occasionally wearing that same expression.

"Don't leave…"

"I won't."

--

"Gaara…?"

His aquamarine eyes remained on her as she pushed herself up onto her elbows, her eyebrows knotted together in confusion.

It wasn't until she was sitting up in her bed before she spoke again in a whisper. "Am I dreaming?"

His eyes narrowed. "No." He paused as if hesitating. "I've been waiting for you to wake up."

"Why?"

It looked as though he wasn't going to answer, at least not for a few minutes. "Don't you remember?"

"Remember?" While her lips formed the word, the gears in her mind began to turn and grind together until she did indeed remember certain short memories and feelings. Of course, she didn't dare show her anguish at the disappearance of her demon friend, lest Gaara know her deep dark secret. Besides that, she did vaguely recall falling asleep in the courtyard when she saw that the hole was blocked. She also somewhat remembered being carried back to her room. Her eyes moved up to find his. "You…"

He nodded. "I saw you."

"Did you carry me back?"

Another nod. "With my sand."

"Oh…" After biting her lip in apprehension, she offered him a small smile. "Thank you."

"Hinata,"

"Hm?"

"That wasn't the only time I saw you sneak out at night."

Her heart thudded nervously against her chest, and she didn't even notice when her eyes widened in panic. "W-What?"

"You don't have to lie," He stood up, crossing his small arms over his equally small chest. "I know that you've been sneaking out of the temple…and out of the village."

"How…?" Now, her heart was really pounding.

For the first time since she awoke, he turned his gaze away from her, as if he was ashamed of something. "I can't sleep all the time…so…sometimes, I stay awake…staring outside." He switched back to his normal expression as his eyes found hers again. "I also know why you've been sneaking out."

Hinata gulped.

Seeing that she was practically speechless, he continued. "You know a demon. I saw him. He brought you back here twice, because you were asleep, I think."

Her bottom lip began to tremble, and before she knew it, her eyes were watering. "Please, Gaara…please, don't tell anyone, please…" she pleaded, crawling on her bed until she was able to grasp onto one of his hands. "I'll get in trouble, and—and—he will too! Please, Gaara…please don't tell?"

He slowly retracted his hand back to his side. "I wasn't going to."

"R-Really?" The surprise was marked clearly on her face.

Hesitantly, he sat down on the edge of her bed, somewhat near the trembling girl. "It's not my secret…it's yours." He saw her begin to smile in gratitude. "And…I wanted to ask you something."

Folding her legs, she leaned over slightly. "What?"

It was strange for her to see him look so nervous…or maybe it was disbelief mixed with confusion.

"Gaara?"

His entire face seemed to scrunch together, especially his brows. "Weren't you scared?"

Her own brow rose. "Scared? Of what?"

Gaara's hands closed into fists. "Of that demon. He's dangerous…all who have demon blood are dangerous. Didn't that scare you?"

When their eyes found each other again, she saw something that she couldn't quite describe. It was like he was searching for something…for hope. "At first I was." She replied honestly. "But he never hurt me. I don't think that all demons are bad. Some are good…like him."

"What about half-demons?" He grounded out between clenched teeth.

"Mmm…" She tilted her head as she seemed to mull it over. "I don't know…" She smiled shyly. "I've never met a half-demon before."

"Yes, you have." He almost forcefully backtracked, thinking it wasn't right to tell her his secret, something very few knew about in the temple.

"I have? Who? When?" She leaned toward him in hurried anticipation.

His eyes shifted uncertainly, debating whether or not he should just tell her. Could he trust her to keep the secret? He wanted to know, though. He wanted to know so badly, for his own sake. He didn't necessarily have to reveal everything, just the little part concerning him. Looking elsewhere, he decided to speak the answer, turning his eyes back to her to see her reaction. "I'm…a half-demon, and you know me, so…you know at least one half-demon."

Just as predicted, her eyes widened in shock, as if disbelieving him, even though she knew that Gaara wouldn't lie about something like that. How could that be possible, though? Why didn't she already know this? Then again, there were hints as to what Gaara was. She just had to think back to that fight she witnessed, where Gaara fought Sasuke. Just the way that the redhead was able to control the sand, and how it moved at his every inclination. No human could do that, no matter how talented they were. That was definitely demonic power.

"You don't believe me?" He narrowed his eyes angrily.

With her eyes still wide in surprise, she shook her head slowly. "I do, but…"

His brows furrowed. "But what?"

Lowering her head, she looked up at him through her bangs. "You…You're really a half-demon?"

"Yes…"

Gradually, she looked up as a small smile appeared on her lips. "Then I was right. Just because you have demon blood doesn't mean that you're a bad person." She inched toward him, eyes still sullen from previous events and memories. "You're good, Gaara. I know you are." She paused as she moved slightly closer to him. "You're my friend, and you do nice things for me. Only bad people do mean things, and you don't do mean things."

With her eyebrows drawn together, she appeared as though she were pouting. If the current situation weren't so serious for Gaara, he probably would've been tempted to smile in amusement at the picture she was presenting him with. Since it wasn't, he couldn't help but let her words mull over in his mind, tasting them for sincerity and truth. To his doubt and amazement, he knew she wasn't lying. He expected that when he told her that he was a half-demon, she would look upon him with fear and loathing, a look he was used to getting frequently. She was shocked, but he could sense no fear coming from her, just a sort of intrigue and curiosity.

She was definitely different, but that might be due to the relationship she had with that demon that he had seen her with. Speaking of which…

"Why were you outside?" Gaara asked, narrowing his eyes skeptically.

Her once pleasant demeanor had flipped completely around as soon as his question registered in her mind. Her smile disappeared, her body froze in tension, and her eyes shifted around nervously.

It wasn't until he saw her bottom lip trembling slightly that Gaara knew he probably shouldn't have asked. Either way, he was not going to take his question back. She looked as though she didn't want to answer, but he would wait patiently until she finally spoke. It did dishearten him somewhat to see her milky white eyes so full of pain, though.

Fingers fidgeting, her eyes finally settled on her lap, and her mouth opened and closed in controversy, as if debating how to say what she needed to. She was never good at containing her emotions, which explained her sniffing and the moistening of her eyes. "It's gone…I can't leave anymore…There's no more hole, so I can't leave at all." She bowed her head, voice trembling and breaking, tears threatening to spill over. "And…A-And he left…and I w-won't see h-him for a long, long time…"

Without his realizing it, Gaara's stern features seemed to soften. "The demon?"

Hinata nodded her lowered head, wiping her palms across her cheeks to dry away the tears that had escaped at alarming speeds. Her breathing shook as she released quiet sobs, her body curling into itself. "I wanted him to stay…I didn't…want him to l-leave m-me."

As she began to hiccup and continue to cry, Gaara was troubled over the fact that he didn't know what to do. He had never dealt with a crying girl before; well, at least not one who considered him a friend. He had never seen Temari cry, so he obviously had no experience with something like this. He remembered seeing those two annoying deities cry before, so he tried to remember how they managed to stop. If his memory was correct, it was usually Miss Kurenai who came over to them, wrapping her arms around them in a motherly embrace, soothing them with comforting whispers. He didn't want to do that.

However, it made his chest clench tightly and painfully with every sob that wracked her body. Releasing a reluctant noise in the back of his throat, he scooted closer to her until they were touching. As slowly as possible, he reached his arms around her huddled form, trying to imitate what Kurenai always did. As soon as his arms were actually touching her, his eyes widened at the reaction he received. Before he could even comprehend it, Hinata was clutching at him, her small arms wrapped around his torso, hands fisted into his shirt. She buried her face in his chest, effectively wetting his clothes from her tears.

Gaara's arms remained around her robotically, not having a clue as to what he was supposed to be doing. He was never one who liked being touched, but his chest warmed pleasantly as the feeling of protectiveness washed through him. The small, redheaded boy never had to protect anything before, let alone a little girl. For some unexplainable reason, though, he** wanted **to protect her.

Gaara never had a completely human friend before, especially one who accepted what he was.

It was a strangely calming feeling…one he wanted to feel more often.

--

In the quiet of the sunrise, Hinata retold to Gaara every experience she had with her demon friend. She told him how she had found the hole in the wall, how they had met, and how she began to regard him as a friend. She also mentioned Mr. Wolf, and how the animal and Itachi had protected her from the blue-skinned demon, which she couldn't remember the name of. She lastly recounted how her harp had become damaged. Through this, her eyes continued to moisten and her body trembled from the saddening emotion reeking havoc throughout her body, mind, and soul.

Hinata was a wreck, being in and out of consciousness for minutes. During which time, Gaara was busy doing everything he could think of to cover her tracks. At one point when she was awake, he convinced her to change into a gown free of dirt, which she agreed to, albeit sleepily. All the while, Gaara mainly stayed near her, whether it be sitting on her bed or on a chair next to the bed.

Over the course of just barely half an hour, Hinata's breathing had quickened quite shakily. She would occasionally perspire, while kicking off the covers, complaining of the heat that Gaara couldn't feel.

At one point, Hinata slowly opened her eyes to the sight of her red-haired friend, sitting on the chair, wiping a dampened cloth over her damaged harp. She could tell that he was taking his time with making sure that every speck of dirt was cleaned from the beautiful metal. Sensing her awake, he didn't look up and only continued to clean. "I can't fix the strings. I don't know how." He murmured quietly.

Hinata could only nod, feeling her throat constrict painfully. "Thank you…" She whispered before closing her eyes, falling speedily back into slumber.

--

A soft knock sounded at Hinata's bedroom door just before a head of dark hair peeked around. "Hinata? You awake yet, sweetie?" Kurenai's mouth stopped in place once her red eyes fell upon the image of Gaara sitting near the bedside, with presumably Hinata under the covers.

Gaara gazed in boredom at his teacher before returning his attention to the harp in his lap, still cleaning whatever grime he found on it. "Miss Kurenai," he acknowledged her in a silent tone.

Kurenai's eyebrows furrowed as she made her way quietly into the room, closing the door behind her. "Gaara…?" She muttered in confusion, walking closer to the bedside, finally being able to make out Hinata's sleeping face amidst the thick blankets. She turned her attention to her side to gaze at the boy instead. "Gaara, what are you doing in here?"

"She said that she couldn't sleep last night, so she went out into the courtyard with her harp."

Kurenai looked at the harp, seeing a few of the strings curled upon themselves from being torn. "What happened to it?"

Gaara remained completely unfazed, not even looking at his teacher while speaking. "Hinata told me that she tripped, and the harp hit against something that made the strings break. I think she cried herself to sleep outside, and I saw her."

Kurenai didn't think he was lying, which was proven when she nodded and crossed her arms under her chest. "I see. You brought her back here then."

Gaara gave the barest of nods in reply.

The older woman knelt next to Hinata with a sympathetic gaze. "Poor girl. She really loved that harp of hers. Seeing it damaged probably broke her heart." She sighed before nearing herself closer to the sleeping girl. "Hinata?" She swept her hand in a motherly gesture through the girl's dark locks before resting it on her forehead. "Oh dear. She's burning up. She probably worked herself into a fever."

"She's sick?" Gaara questioned, inwardly feeling a minor sense of panic.

"Looks that way. She's such a delicate girl, I'm not surprised that she managed to make herself sick." She moved her hand to rub Hinata's back gently. "Hinata, can you wake up for me please? Hinata?"

Hinata inhaled sharply, eyes still closed, face scrunching together, her throat emitting a faint whine. It only took a few seconds for Hinata to crack her eyes open slowly, widening later to see that she was looking at Kurenai, not Gaara, for once. "M-Miss Kurenai…?" Even her tiny voice emanated her illness.

Kurenai gave her a small, warming smile. "I'll let you go back to sleep in a minute, okay? Gaara told me what happened."

Hinata shuddered nervously, lowering her gaze to her pillow in shame. "I…I'm s-sorry…"

"Oh," Kurenai chuckled softly. "Don't be. Everyone trips sometime, and I bet your harp just hit against a rock or something. It's not your fault, and I'm sure we can find a way to fix it, okay?"

As quickly as she could, Hinata's eyes met Kurenai's in shock. Apparently, Gaara had made something up so Hinata wouldn't get in trouble. Glancing behind her teacher quickly to meet gazes with Gaara, she noticed the meaningful look he was giving her. She gulped, turning to look back to red-eyed woman.

"Now," Kurenai spoke up. "If you ever have trouble sleeping at night, it would be better for you to just stay in your room, or you could even come get me, if you like. That way, I wouldn't be so worried. And don't fret about your harp; we'll figure something out. For now," She stood, tucking the covers around the girl to keep her warm. "I want you to stay in bed for the rest of the day, and only think about getting better. I'll talk to Shizune, so she can make you some medicine, and I'll come check on you as much as I can."

Hinata nodded, "Okay…"

Kissing Hinata once on her brow, Kurenai backed away. "Get some sleep, and no wandering around."

"Yes, ma'am."

Kurenai smiled before turning to face the boy. "Alright, Gaara, let's leave her in peace."

"Why can't I stay?" It was barely noticeable, but it was almost like he worded his question in challenge.

The woman frowned in disappointment. "Because you are your sister's guardian, not Hinata's, and you need to fulfill your duty, whether there is danger or not. Am I understood?"

"Yes, ma'am." He replied dryly, and would've pouted if he was like any normal child. He followed his teacher to the door, but glanced back to meet Hinata's white eyes, which had been following them.

Hinata smiled weakly. "Thank you, Gaara. You're a good friend."

He inclined his head before reluctantly following Kurenai out into the hallway, with the teacher closing the door behind them.

--

"Where have you been?" Kankuro asked as his little brother took his seat at the breakfast table. "You're usually here before all of us."

Gaara shrugged, remaining silent. From the corner of his eye, he watched Kurenai cross the room to the other table, where the adults sat. He couldn't hear what was being said, but as soon as they all turned to the dark-haired woman, she spoke to them earnestly, getting nods and spoken replies in return. After sitting herself, she turned to speak in that same manner to Shizune, who nodded with her eyebrows lowered.

"Hey Gaara, you didn't happen to see Hinata on your way here, did you?" Temari asked, drawing his attention away from the adult table.

He merely turned to her with his typical impassive stare.

Not giving him a chance to reply, even if he wanted to, she continued pensively. "She should be here by now. I wonder what's keeping her." Her eyes trailed over to the dark-haired boy sitting on the opposite side of the empty chair next to her. "What about you, Neji? Seen Hinata this morning?"

He stared at the empty seat next to him before lowering his head slightly and shaking it. "I think I'll go get her—"

"Don't." Gaara spoke with surprising authority, halting Neji from moving.

Anger washed over the Hyuga boy's face, along with suspicion. "Why?"

Gaara's threatening eyes bored into Neji's white eyes. "She's sick."

Temari's brows knotted together. "Sick? Are you sure?" She was answered by a quick flat look from her youngest brother. In response, Temari leaned back, allowing for the pout on her face to be shown. "She can't be sick…"

--

"Miss Kurenai?"

"Yes, Neji?"

"Could I go see Hinata?"

"She's very sick. I don't think that would be a good idea; you might catch something."

His fists clenched at his sides. "I don't care. I'm her guardian, so I'm supposed to be by her side…even when she's sick."

Kurenai was silent, thinking over what to decide. "Alright, but you still have to go to your training session with Lord Jiraiya, okay?"

Neji smiled. "Yes, ma'am."

"Tell you what…It's almost lunch time, so why don't you go bring her some soup, grab something for yourself, and you can help take care of her for me."

His smile grew unknowingly. "I will."

She returned his smile, practically feeling his inner happiness exuding into the air around them. "I'm sure seeing you will make her better in no time."

--

"Thank you, Neji." Hinata murmured in a whisper.

After putting away the tray of dishes, Neji leaned forward on her bed, his head taking up part of her pillow, and his hand reaching out to take hers.

Hinata smiled serenely at him before allowing her eyes to close in contentment.

Watching her begin to drift into sleep, the little boy scooted onto the bed and placed his mouth to her ear, whispering. "Hinata? Can I be in your heart?"

Her eyes slowly opened with a blank expression on her fragile features. Only a second passed when that blank expression formed into one of giddy happiness. "You are already in my heart, Neji."

He smiled, but his eyes remained on her in earnest. "Forever?"

Hinata couldn't contain the giggle that bubbled forth from her lips. "Forever and ever."

A surge of absolute peace whelmed up inside of the Hyuga boy, which was made obvious by his shining grin and the way his fingers twirled strands of her hair tenderly.

"Neji?" Hinata spoke up curiously. "Can I be in your heart, too?"

It was Neji's turn to laugh. "You _are _my heart, Hina."

A blush spread over her cheeks as she repositioned herself on the bed to make room for Neji.

Once he seemed comfortable, he wrapped his hand tightly around hers and gazed into her eyes nearly identical to his. "I love you, Hinata." He whispered.

"I love you, too, Neji." She whispered, letting her fingers brush over his face before allowing her eyes to close, surrendering to sleep.

Neji wanted to stay awake for the mere purpose of watching the girl he loved so much...his heart.

--

After the children had gone off to the dining hall for dinner, Kurenai quietly entered Hinata's room, making sure not to knock in case the little girl was asleep. What she found within the darkness of the room couldn't help but warm her heart, her lips softening into a touched smile.

A tray of empty dishes rested on a nightstand near the bed, not even a foot of distance from an empty chair. Only the moon seemed to cast light into the room, illuminating what made her smile in such a way.

Hinata was indeed asleep as Kurenai expected. The dark-haired girl was lying on her side underneath the covers, her mind locked away within her dreams. One of her small hands was being occupied.

Grasping loosely onto that hand just happened to be Neji's equally small hand. He was also lying on his side, facing her, his young body partway under the covers and partway out. With his face only the barest of inches from Hinata's, Neji was asleep as well.

Their interlocked hands, although loosely held, seemed as though they would never break apart.

Kurenai supposed that she could always come back later to wake Neji. She almost wanted to chuckle at the sight before her, but her eyes caught onto Hinata's damaged harp. Without further incentive, she picked it up into her arms and left the room as silently as she had come.

After all, she did not want to disturb the sleeping deity…and her slumbering guardian.

* * *

**_Four Years Later…_**

Delicate fingers graced their way over mended strings of the small harp she had owned for years. A lilting smile found its way to her lips, her opal eyes contained with a type of sadness and solemnity she was familiar with, and had been since the day _he _had left.

Sitting on the stone bench in the middle of the garden, twelve-year-old Hinata closed her eyes in reminiscence of that day after his departure. She had told Gaara her secret, became ill, and took comfort in her guardian. Despite only being eight at the time, it was hardly something she could even try to forget. The pain wouldn't let her forget; a dull ache in her heart was what remained from the absence of her dear childhood friend.

That wasn't all that remained, though.

Clenching onto the necklace hidden underneath her gown, she sighed deeply of times long lost within an abandoned meadow.

She continued to smile, however. Just because he wasn't there didn't mean that he wasn't coming back. She had that much to look forward to, as she would be reminded of it as soon as the full moon came out that night. As promised, she would play her harp for him, whether he would hear it or not. She would play her song…_their _song, and remember.

"Hinata?"

Opening her eyes slowly, she turned to gaze at the face that the recognizable voice belonged to. "Neji…"

The corner of his mouth quirked upward. "It's time for your practice. The other deities are already in the music room, I'd wager."

She beamed at him, standing up fully. "Okay…"

He took her hand in his own and squeezed reassuringly. "Are you alright?"

"Mhm." She nodded, smile widening.

He gave his own nod, although it was nothing but concerned. "Very well, let's hurry."

Walking down the hallway, leading to the music room, the two stopped as they saw Kankuro giving a half-wave to Tenten, who had just entered the room, letting the door close behind her. Kankuro turned as if facing someone before making his way down the opposite side of the hallway. At his absence, Neji and Hinata took notice of the lonesome figure standing leisurely near the door.

"Hello, Gaara." Hinata smiled warmly, walking up to her friend with Neji following closely behind.

He gave a short nod to her and one to Neji as well before settling his aquamarine eyes on Hinata only.

Neji raised an eyebrow. "Waiting for something?"

Gaara shrugged. "Nothing important. Just making sure that you're not late to training."

The Hyuga male scoffed haughtily, crossing his arms over his chest in the process. "I'll be there before you." His face softened considerably upon turning to Hinata. "I'll be here when you're done."

"Okay, be careful." It was their typical departing words, so it wasn't surprising when Neji's hand brushed down the length of her arm with a gentle smirk riding his features, especially after seeing her blush in such a way. No more words were spoken as he turned and walked speedily down the same way that Kankuro had gone only minutes before.

It wasn't until Neji disappeared that Gaara addressed the white-eyed girl. "Full moon tonight."

Her smile faltered minutely, while lowering her head. "Yes," she whispered.

His fractionally narrowed eyes were the only indication of the question he was asking without speaking it.

Either way, Hinata knew what was being said. "Please don't worry about me, Gaara. I'll be all right. It's been four years, and I think it's getting easier to deal with."

It was difficult to believe her, which he wasn't going to do anyway. To comfort her, though, he did what he could. "The way you describe him, your demon doesn't seem the type to go back on his word."

She delivered a breathy giggle. "I hope not."

"If he does…" Gaara turned his back to her, but didn't move anymore than that. "I'll just have to find him and…talk to him about it."

The threat was there, and although Hinata didn't like it, she appreciated Gaara's attempt at consoling her in the only way he knew how. "Thank you, Gaara."

"Hn," He grunted before walking calmly down the hall, heading for the training grounds.

It was true that Hinata was a naturally quiet girl, but the trait suited her. Some would say that she had gotten even quieter over the years, but that wasn't so. If anything, she went from a shy quiet to a pensive quiet, always appearing to be lost in thought but not depressed. It was only on the nights of the full moon that her heart felt heavy, and for a good reason, too. Only she and Gaara knew that reason, and she couldn't help but prefer it that way.

Every time she would play that memorable song, she would gaze up at the bright moon, wondering hopelessly for the return of her demon friend.

He did promise that he would return…She just didn't know when.

_Where are you? What are you doing right now?_

_Do you still remember me?_

_You promised…_

* * *

"_A-Are y-you going to k-kill me now…?"_

"_M-May I ask y-your name?"_

"_Um, uh…Mr. demon, sir?"_

"_Hi, Mr. Demon."_

"_I'm sorry…I forgot, um…Mr. Itachi."_

"_Itachi…?"_

"_Itachi, it's my birthday today. I'm eight now, and they made me a cake and everything, and then I blew out the candles and made a wish."_

"_I love looking at the moon…"_

"_People can see things better when there's light in their world."_

"_Itachi?"_

"_Even when it's really, really dark, you'll always have a light with you to keep you safe."_

"_Why…are you different from other demons?"_

"_You…you would never hurt me…you wouldn't…"_

"_So…we can't be friends?"_

"_I love you, Itachi. You're my friend. People can't hurt the ones they love."_

"_I'll really miss you, Itachi…Don't forget me…okay…?"_

"_Promise?"_

"_Itachi?"_

"_Itachi…?"_

"_I love you, Itachi."_

His eyes opened to the piercing screams of bloodshed. From his place on the cliff side, he was able to look down at all the mayhem he had created only moments ago.

Blood dripped in rivers down the curves of his sword—blood mirrored in his eyes. Despite that, he had to clear his mind before embarking on another rampage through the demon hunter village. He couldn't afford to go into battle with _her _voice floating around in his head and memories…even though it happened often.

It wasn't such a surprise anymore that anytime he closed his eyes, anything she ever said to him would whisper in his mind as if she was there at that moment. That wasn't so unpleasant most of the time.

When in battle, though, certain things had become unpleasant. For instance, he had become hesitant when it came to the slaughtering of children, or more specifically, little girls. Before his sword would slice through their diminutive bodies, he would see a flash of her face as if he was going to slice through _her _instead.

He learned to deal with it over time. All he would have to do was make sure that they weren't facing him when he killed them, ridding his world of their pathetic existence.

It was necessary.

It was his duty as a demon…as an Uchiha.

There wasn't supposed to be any questioning when it came to the slaughtering of the loathsome human kind.

A dark scowl marred his usually calm features. It wasn't like him to feel frustrated.

Clenching onto his sword tightly, he jumped lithely from the cliff edge, landing on the edge of the village, which was once a mere four-hundred feet below him. Houses were burning down, humans of all kinds flooding the chaotic streets in desperate attempts to live, and a few demons calmly lurking around with sadistic plans to make the screaming last just a little bit longer.

Readying his bloodstained sword, it was time to finish his mission.

The campaign, however, wasn't over quite yet…much to his inner disappointment.

His deity would just have to wait awhile longer.

"_Itachi…"_

* * *

**Sorry about the long wait, but it's obviously here now! Anyway, thank you to all who took the time to review! You guys are my motivation to keep going, which makes you all kind of the backbone to this story, seriously!**

**So, there was a little time-skip in this one, which will continue into the next chapter, but it should be short. The big time-skip will either come into the next one or the one after that, I'm not sure. **

**I hope to hear all of your guys' thoughts in reviews! If you think there are any problems, let me know, okay?**

**Thanks!**

**Tranquilwriter**


	13. Strength

**Author Note: **_**I dedicate this chapter to someone who made a picture for this story, which managed to inspire me enough to get out of my temporary writer's block and finish it. So a big thanks to **_**NarutoAngel **_**and her awesome Divinity moving-picture! (The link is on my profile for anyone who wants to see). **_Thanks for all the reviews!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

_**Important Note: **_**I wanted to let you guys know that I made this chapter quite LONG so as to make up for my few months of absence. I'll explain more at the end.**

**Age Reminder: **Rookie Nine: 12 — Neji, Tenten, Lee: 13 — Kankuro: 14 — Temari: 15

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XII**

**Strength**

* * *

"_Sorrow and silence are strong, and patient endurance is godlike."_

_- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow_

"_One faces the future with one's past."_

_- Pearl S. Buck_

"_Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn."_

_- C.S. Lewis_

* * *

"This isn't working. Something else needs to be done." Tsunade mumbled during one of the adults' nightly meetings.

Jiraiya glanced casually over to the matriarch. "What are you talking about, Tsunade?"

Kakashi broke in. "Are you referring to their progress?"

Asuma fingered an unlit cigarette between two of his fingers. "We told you that the boys' training is going well. They're all showing improvement as each day passes."

Anko nodded seriously. "Same for the girls. They've all changed since they were first starting out. Temari's wind can shatter a boulder and Sakura can nearly punch a crater into the ground. Tenten can turn a rotting twig into an excellent weapon in under a second. Ino has learned to break through most mental barriers, and Hinata can heal anything she pleases for hours on end without tiring as much as she used to."

Kurenai nodded in agreement. "They've all improved far beyond any of our expectations, even academically. What more needs to be done, Lady Tsunade?"

A sigh of exhaustion sounded from the dark-haired doctor. "If you push them any further, you're going to cause them some serious damage."

Tsunade frowned. "I wasn't meaning any of that, and I wasn't planning on 'pushing' them as you say, Shizune." She paused to take a breath before explaining. "I agree that they have improved tremendously, but there's only so much that they can learn and understand to the maximum. What's knowledge if they can't understand it? How can they understand it if they don't have experience?"

"Experience?" Gai murmured, hand to his chin in thought. "The boys spar with each other, and I've seen the deities practice on the objects around them."

"That's true, Gai, but…" Tsunade shrugged, standing from her chair. "They've been kept in this temple since they arrived here. All that I'm insinuating is that maybe…we let them out on their own and see them put their training to real practice."

Jiraiya laughed humorlessly. "Very well. I'll just go capture the first demon I see, and let the kids go at it. If they get injured or killed, that's their fault, right? At least they died with experience."

Tsunade watched as Jiraiya doubled over in pain from the blow that she dealt to his stomach. "Try listening for a change, you idiot. I'm not stupid enough to let them go outside the village walls yet. I only mean for them to get experience around people they don't know and can't predict."

Kakashi laughed below his breath. "I'm afraid you'll have to clarify with what you're planning, Lady Tsunade. I'm a bit confused as to what you're wanting to do."

The matriarch cleared her throat before shrugging again. "I'm not sure about the details yet, but I really want to test the deities and the guardians, as well as the security force. Of course, the villagers won't pose a great threat or anything, but it'll be nice practice. Maybe we could let the deities roam around the village—people will surely know who and what they are, which will allow for the guardians to be tested on their ability to protect their deities from unwanted attention."

Asuma folded his arms across his chest, cigarette still clinging to his fingers. "And the security force?"

Tsunade puckered her lips in contemplation. "Well, the boys in the security force could be tested on their strategy and subterfuge. They'll be acting as the guardians to the guardians, so to speak."

"Ah," Kakashi nodded in understanding. "Watching from the shadows, you mean. Test them to see if they notice what the guardians won't have time to notice."

"Exactly." Tsunade smirked.

"Heh," Anko smiled deviously. "Sounds like fun."

"Will this be safe?" The red-eyed woman asked, a finger to her lip in concern.

"Maybe…maybe not." Tsunade yawned. "I suppose that's why I'll be sending you all to go and watch how they do, and be prepared to jump in when necessary."

"Mmm…" Asuma sighed with a slight upward turn to his lips. "Just when I was hoping for some time off."

When Jiraiya seemed to be recovered, he stood erect and leaned against the table near him. "I say let's give it a try."

Tsunade nodded. "Everyone else agree?"

Kakashi seemed bored when he replied. "I'm all up for giving them a small taste of the real world."

"Asuma? Gai?"

"Sure. Why not?"

"It'll be a youthful experience!"

"Anko?"

"Hell yeah!"

Tsunade gazed at Kurenai, awaiting her answer.

The woman seemed to think it over for a moment before consenting. "Very well."

"What about you, Shizune?"

"I don't mind…but, keep an eye on them. I don't want all of the children in my ward because of this."

"No need to worry about it." Tsunade chuckled. "I have a feeling they'll be just fine. It's the villagers I'm worried about."

"So, when do we tell them?" Jiraiya asked curiously.

"Tomorrow, before breakfast. We'll send them out as soon as the meal is over."

* * *

The sun was bright that morning. Or, at least, it was to Hinata as she sat, dressed and ready, on the edge of her bed. While staring outside her balcony, one of her hands clasped around the significant pendent, which was hiding beneath her gown. As she thumbed the diamond, her mind seemed to drift as it had been doing since the day _he _left.

It was strange and confusing. Her world, her reality, just wasn't the same since _his _departure. _She _wasn't the same. Was that right? Was that supposed to happen?

As she matured over the years, she began to wonder seriously about just how much her demon really meant to her if his leaving had affected her like it had. It was like a part of her, a large part of her, had gone missing, causing her to only function half as well as she used to. For only knowing him for barely a year, he had come to mean much more to her than she could ever imagine. Even after four years, she still couldn't quite comprehend it all.

A sharp rapping on her bedroom door made her jump out of her reverie and snap her gaze over to her closed door.

"Hinata?" A muffled voice sounded from the other side of the door. "Are you ready?"

Knowing the voice, she smiled. "Oh, yes! I'm coming!" After escaping from atop her bed, she ran over to the door, opening it hurriedly, only to come face to face with her beloved guardian.

He returned her smile, an unknown glint to his eyes. "I apologize if I made you wait long."

She closed her door behind her, entering out into the hallway with the dark-haired boy. "You didn't. I just woke up earlier than I thought I would."

"Hm, I see." It had almost become automatic for Neji to reach his hand over to grasp onto her own as they walked side-by-side.

Just as automatically, Hinata would offer his hand a quick squeeze before shyly leaning closer to him. She had confirmed with herself over the years that out of everyone at the temple, Neji was truly her best friend. To her, he was completely selfless to devote himself to her entirely. He doted on her constantly, gave her affection, and comforted her even over the minimalist things. Only a best friend would provide that kind of treatment, right?

In Neji's mind, he knew that everything he did for her originated from more selfish intentions. Even though he also knew that she only thought of him as a close friend, it was his every endeavor to change that, no matter how long it would take.

--

Their hands separated when they reached the breakfast table, so that Neji could pull out Hinata's chair for her. She murmured a quiet 'thank you' to him as she took her seat, allowing Neji to scoot her closer to the table. Only when she seemed comfortable did he take his seat next to her.

Temari watched from her chair at the head of the table on Hinata's right, the same seat she had been sitting in since the boys and girls were told to sit at the same table. The seat arrangements obviously hadn't changed since those days. The older girl had her brow raised as her tilted head rested on her upraised fist. She rolled her eyes before leaning back into her chair, arms folded under her matured bust. "You know…just because you two are Deity and Guardian doesn't mean that you have to act like a married couple."

Neji was indifferent, but Hinata couldn't help but allow a blush to graze her cheeks. Waving her hands in front of her defensively, she remarked, "T-Temari, it's not like that."

Neji mirrored her raised brow. "What makes you think we act like we're married?"

"Hmm…" She tapped her finger to her chin before she nodded to herself. "Actually, perhaps not a _married _couple, but…you act a lot like newlyweds."

"Newlyweds?" Hinata asked, her voice almost coming to an embarrassed squeak. If she had turned towards Neji at that time, she would've noticed a pleased smirk take dominance over his mouth.

"Oh yeah," Temari nodded, briefly closing her eyes. "Like newlyweds, it's like you two have to always be holding hands, be near each other, and by the goddess, have you seen the way he treats you? Despite that he's your guardian and he's supposed to be protective, he treats you like you're his favorite toy that he doesn't want to share with anyone!"

A slight pout came onto Hinata's features as she switched her gaze between Neji and Temari before finally lowering her eyes to the table. "It's not like that…" She mumbled defiantly.

Temari chuckled and patted her little friend on her head. "Oh, don't worry, Hina. You know I'm just playing with you." She laughed again, while delivering Neji a warning glare. "I know you two will only _ever _remain friends. It's not like it could ever be anything more than that, right Neji?"

His eyes narrowed in a hateful scowl. He really hated Temari sometimes…her and her protective tendencies.

"Stop it, Temari." Gaara's deep voice sounded from his seat on Temari's right. "You're embarrassing her."

Another chuckle came before Temari embraced the small girl into her arms. "You know I'm only teasing you, right Hina?"

The dark-haired girl smiled brightly at her older friend. "I know…"

"Man, I'm hungry!" Naruto shouted as he entered into the dining room, alerting everyone to his presence.

"Shut it, loser." Sasuke insulted as he walked next to the blonde-haired boy. "Every time you speak, it's annoying."

"Yeah, well, same goes for you, Sasuke!" Naruto retorted angrily as each of them took their designated seats at the table.

As they continued to bicker, Hinata's eyes couldn't help but follow after the young Uchiha. Even though her face remained blank, her heart seemed to pick up speed just from the astonishment at how much he reminded her of her demon friend. They were alike, and yet, so very different. In some strange way, by seeing Sasuke everyday, it was like being able to remind herself of what _he _looked like.

As if sensing someone's eyes on him, the young Uchiha snapped his black eyes over to the end part of the table until he settled on the pair of opal eyes staring at him blankly. He gave her a small glare, watching as her own eyes widened and her face burned at being caught before she immediately looked away. Despite her not looking at him anymore, Sasuke kept his own eyes on her regardless.

Ever since the first time he met her, he knew there was something different about her. She wasn't like the other girls there. While Sakura and Ino flaunted themselves at him, Hinata didn't. If she held any romantic feelings for anyone, he would've guessed it would be towards her guardian. Tenten and Temari didn't seem to hold the same feelings toward him as the other two girls did; but then again, they still seemed annoying in their own way. Hinata, on the other hand, was quiet and only spoke when spoken to. Someone like him had a tendency to appreciate that kind of mannerism.

That wasn't what made her so different, though. There was something about her that he couldn't understand. At times, even he would see when her shy nature fell away and she would fall into a daze, appearing much older than she was. What she would be thinking about, he didn't have a clue, but it was obviously enough to pour solemnity into her expressive eyes.

Finally turning away from her, he settled his gaze onto the wall ahead of him. _Just what are you trying to cover up, Hinata Hyuga?_

"I'm starving…" Choji's voice was heard as he and Shikamaru entered the dining room with Shino and Kiba following.

Shikamaru yawned, stretching his arms behind his back before entwining his hands behind his head. "It's so troublesome having to wake up this early."

By then, the two friends had neared the table, causing Temari to smirk at the lazy boy. "Why does it always seem like you're whining about something?" She watched as he turned slightly toward her, still looking bored. Temari laughed. "I thought men weren't supposed to whine and cry so much."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow before sighing. "And here I was hoping that women couldn't get anymore troublesome."

Her face scrunched into irritation. "Oh, shut it."

"Gladly." Following Choji to their designated seats at the opposite end of the table, Shikamaru walked away from the blonde with the barest hint of a smile tickling the corners of his mouth.

Walking behind Hinata's side of the table, Shino and Kiba made their entrance known; well, at least, Kiba did. Shino walked by quietly.

Seeing them, Hinata smiled warmly. "Good morning Kiba, Shino."

Shino nodded and Kiba grinned toothily, placing his hand atop her head. "How's it going, Hinata? Climb any good trees lately?"

Hinata blushed brightly. "Kiba…You know we don't do that anymore…"

Retrieving his hand back to his side, his face became worn. "Yeah, tell me about it. Those were the good days, huh? Now, we don't seem to all hang out together as much as we used to."

"You'll find that as you age, Kiba," Shino murmured. "Responsibilities take priority. Climbing trees is hardly a responsibility."

Kiba turned to him with his fist ready. "No one asked you, bug-lover."

Shino merely turned on his heel and began heading towards his seat as if he hadn't heard Kiba at all.

That only seemed to infuriate the other boy even more. "Hey! Don't walk away from me! I wasn't done with you yet!"

Hinata couldn't help but chuckle to herself at her two friends, who seemed more willing to start an argument than make peace. She often wondered how they even managed to be friends most of the time.

"Naruto, you bastard!" Ino shouted furiously, stomping her way into the giant room.

Sakura was trying to keep up with her friend, but it was proving difficult. Already knowing what was going to occur, she sighed before seating herself at the table. Lee followed his deity, spouting something along the lines of how "youthful" Ino was being.

Upon hearing Ino's obviously angered voice, Naruto tensed immediately and slowly turned toward the origin of the voice. His face was practically painted with nervous anxiety.

Ino's usually white face was red, surmounting how many times the word "murder" was running through her mind. As soon as she saw the other blonde attempting to run from the table, she sped toward him.

Naruto squeaked a curse when her arm wrapped around his neck in a tight grip, emanating unmistakable brutality. "I-Ino! S-Stop it!" he choked out.

"I am so sick of you always ditching me! I tell you over and over to come pick me up at my room at a certain time, so you can _escort _me like you're supposed to do!"

Naruto struggled in her grip. "Come on, Ino! I forgot! It—It happens!"

She growled. "It's not supposed to happen every damn day! You are such a useless guardian, I swear!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Let me go!"

"Are you going to forget again?"

"No, no, I won't!"

"You swear?"

"I swear!"

"Okay, then." She released him with a pleasant smile riding over her lips. "Now," She bent over to continue smiling at him as if she wasn't just choking him earlier. "I'll let you make it up to me, and I won't hurt you anymore."

Naruto rubbed his throat from his collapsed position on the floor. "How?"

"You let me sit next to Sasuke."

Naruto's face contorted into confusion. "Why would you want to go and do that?"

"Oh, no you don't, Ino." Sakura stood from her seat, placing her palms on the table, glaring at her "best friend". "If anyone is allowed to sit next to Sasuke, it should be _me_!"

"Like he'd want to sit next to you and your big forehead!" Ino retorted vehemently.

"What did you say?!"

"Yes, Sakura, my blossom!" Lee shouted with his thumb sticking up. "You are always so youthful!"

Temari rolled her eyes before resting her head on her upraised hands. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me…This again? Seriously? It never ends."

Neji glanced to Hinata's concerned face before shaking his head at the goings on. "It _will _never end."

"Well, well," Kankuro spoke up as he made his way into his chair, Tenten sitting in her chair already. "What'd we miss?"

"The usual." Temari grumbled, rubbing her fingertips against her temples. "It's everyone's morning headache."

Kankuro turned to Neji with a raised brow.

Feeling the need to clarify, Neji answered Kankuro's unspoken question. "Naruto forgot his duties again."

"Oh…" He chuckled in reply.

Tenten leaned forward on the table, entering into the conversation. "No way! He forgot to escort Ino _again_? Doesn't he learn?"

Neji shrugged. "Apparently not."

With her delicate knuckle resting against her bottom lip, Hinata continued to stare with concern. "I hope no one gets badly hurt. I'm sure Naruto didn't mean to forget."

"Right," Neji murmured dryly. "And that would make Naruto a victim of his own idiocy."

"Neji," Hinata turned to him with her brows furrowed in disappointment.

"What does it matter, anyway, Hina?" Temari intervened. "If they get hurt, it's their fault. If it gets bad, it's not like you can't heal them, right?"

"Oh, well, I suppose that's true…but still…"

As they quieted, the voices of Naruto, Sakura, and Ino continued to boom loudly in the large room. Fortunately for those around them, it was put to a quick halt when Tsunade entered the room with Jiraiya following. "That is enough!" she yelled to the entire table of young teenagers. "Shut up, all of you! Especially you three!"

Jiraiya winced at the matriarch's voice, feeling as though she were yelling in his ears directly. Walking past him, the other adults made their way into the room. Unlike their usual pattern of going to their designated table to have breakfast, every one of them stood near the children's table instead.

Tsunade sighed once they were all quiet and sitting down in their seats. While rubbing her head in annoyance, she walked over to the opposite end of the table, positioning herself at the head with Temari at the other end. The older woman rested her palms on the table surface, leaning over slightly, and gazing at each one of them so as to gain their undivided attention.

However, Naruto's attention could only be held for so long before other matters entered his fickle mind. "Hey, Granny, where's the food? We usually have it by now, and I'm starving!"

"Shut up, Naruto. You'll get your meal in a second, but I have to make an important announcement first." She waited until all attention was on her before she began. "Today is going to be a little different. There won't be any classes or training…well, at least not the kind that you're used to."

Confusion spread across all of their faces, some more curious than others.

"Anyway, here goes. As soon as you all finish your breakfast, you will be escorted outside the temple and straight into the village center." She paused briefly, gaining a small amount of satisfaction at each of their astonished expressions. "For the rest of the day, you will be allowed to go anywhere in the village and do whatever you please as long as you don't damage anything." At the last statement, her eyes went directly to Naruto.

"So…" the blonde boy started, still obviously in shock. "We can go into the village…with all the people there and everything?"

"Yes," Tsunade replied. "But, keep in mind that this is a test, a training simulation of sorts. The deities can wander wherever they please, but must try to keep a low profile. Guardians, I want all five of you to stick to your assigned deities and make sure that no harm comes to them."

Sakura's eyes seemed nervous as she spoke up. "Will we be in danger?"

"Mmm…" Tsunade's lips pinched together as she tilted her head. "Not the type of danger that's fatal, but…Well, I'm sure you girls remember when those around you saw your powers first hand, right?"

Hinata looked down, remembering vividly the reactions of the villagers, and their constant remarks of her containing goddess blood. She remembered just how frightening it was, too.

Tsunade continued. "The villagers have the ability to become very obsessed with the deities and their powers. So much so, that they could unintentionally hurt them. That is why the guardians need to keep their eyes on their deities at all times. Is that understood?"

Neji, more than the other guardians, nodded seriously with determination.

Another sigh came before Tsunade turned her attention to the boys closest to her, speaking in a quieter tone. "As for you boys, the soon-to-be security force, you'll have a similar task to perform. Stick to the shadows and corners, the places that no one will see you. Be stealthy and invisible to the villagers. Your only task is to provide back-up for the guardians should they need it. The guardians won't be able to see and notice everything, so you must be watching for any sign of the deities getting in trouble."

They nodded their understanding.

"Okay, then." Tsunade nodded. "After you finish eating, I want the security force boys to go with your masters. Deities, you will go with Kurenai and Anko. Guardians, you will follow Jiraiya. At that time, if you have any questions, then ask them. They will give you more detailed information about this training session, so pay attention when that happens. Until then, eat your fill and enjoy it."

It wasn't until all the adults were seated at their table and the food was served when Temari exited her temporary stupor and glanced over to her timid friend. Hinata was staring blankly at her plate of untouched food, hands wringing in her lap. Temari leaned closer to her. "What's wrong?"

Hinata blinked and turned to the older girl with eyebrows raised, showing visibly her attempt to seem normal. Gently shaking her head, she gave a small smile. "It's nothing. I just…I can't believe that we're actually going into the village. I haven't…seen it in six years, and I was born there." As if an idea struck her, she looked at Temari with wide eyes. "My parents…Maybe they're still there. Do you think…"

Overhearing their silent conversation, Neji leaned toward Hinata and spoke in the same whispered tone. "If you want, Hinata, we could look for them while we're there."

"We could? Really?" Her heart was suddenly beating so fast.

His brow lowered. "I'm sure it wouldn't hurt."

"It might." Both Hyugas turned to Temari when she said that…both seeming confused. Temari merely sighed and folded her arms, her eyes looking everywhere at once. "I'm not saying that your parents would be like this, but…most parents, after giving up their child to the temple…they move on. They learn to forget that they had a child with unnatural abilities. It doesn't matter if they wanted to keep their child or not; it's just easier to pretend like that child never existed." She shrugged nonchalantly, glancing at her brothers once before meeting Hinata's eyes. "At least, that's what our mother did."

Hinata didn't know what to say. She wanted to say something to make Temari cheer up again, or at least provide some type of comfort, but her mouth would only open in silence.

Temari inhaled and offered Hinata a slight upward twitch in her lips. "All I'm saying is that if I were you, I'd rather avoid it. If your parents moved on already, it'd only open past wounds if you met up with them again. Of course, I could be wrong since I don't know anything about your parents."

Hinata only nodded in reply, signaling her understanding of Temari's opinion.

For the rest of the meal, the Hyugas and Temari remained relatively silent, along with Gaara who was almost always silent. Tenten and Kankuro kept conversation mainly between themselves, but everyone else did not. Sasuke was mostly quiet other than the occasional insult toward Naruto. The same went for Shino, except his insults were directed toward Kiba _and _Naruto. Choji and Shikamaru would add in a word or two every once in awhile, but the body of the conversation was mainly among those in the center of the table. Sakura and Ino carried a conversation with Lee and Naruto interrupting most of the time, along with the usual verbal battles that Naruto had with almost everyone near him.

The excitement of that morning consisted of discussions over what they would expect from their first time in the village center, for they hadn't left the temple grounds in years.

--

As soon as breakfast had ended, everyone walked through the temple until they were standing at the front entrance to the majestic building itself. All were divided into three groups with Tsunade checking over each one. The deities were with Kurenai and Anko, the guardians with Jiraiya, and the other boys with Kakashi, Asuma, and Gai. Each group was going over what to look out for, what to expect, and any other details that Tsunade chose not to mention. As far as the young teenagers knew, they were going on their own, even though that wasn't the case. The adults would just watch and follow at a distance.

-

"Now, remember," Kurenai warned the girls once again. "Do not use your powers unless it's completely necessary."

Anko rolled her eyes. "Or you could use them and make it interesting."

"Anko,"

"What? If you've got it, flaunt it, I say!"

-

"You can't forget to always keep one eye on your deity and the other on those around you." Jiraiya drawled, feeling irritated that he had to explain it again, since Naruto still wasn't getting it. "Your deity's safety is your first priority."

Scratching his head, Naruto piped up. "So, then, why do we have to keep an eye on the other people too? They're not our priority, are they?"

"That's not what I'm saying!"

"Then what is it, you perv? Stop confusing me!"

Jiraiya could only smack his hand against his face.

Kankuro shook his head, while Gaara and Neji both muttered "idiot" under their breath.

-

"Do all of you understand what you have to do now?" Kakashi asked and watched each one of the boys nod their replies. "Good. Asuma?"

"Right. Okay, boys, you're going to divide up and stick to following a certain guardian and deity. If at all possible, make your presence unknown to all but the others in the security force. Even though you will be separated, act as a team." He paused, glancing over the group of boys.

Kakashi gave Sasuke a pointed stare. "This is your chance to prove yourself to us, Sasuke. Don't waste it."

The young Uchiha only scowled.

"Anyway," Asuma continued. "Choji, you'll be following Kankuro and Tenten."

"Okay."

"Shikamaru, you have Temari and Gaara."

"Great…"

"Sakura and Lee will be assigned to you, Kiba. Lee has a lot of energy, so stick with him."

Kiba looked away with his lip curling in disappointment.

"That leaves Shino with Ino and Naruto, and Sasuke with Hinata and Neji." Asuma first stared at Shino. "Sorry about that, but we figured that you'd be the only one to keep Naruto in line should he get out of hand."

Shino didn't have to say anything for his displeasure to be noticed.

Gazing at Sasuke seriously, Asuma warned. "The Hyugas shouldn't cause you any trouble, but we thought that it'd be good training for you. Neji is very sharp, which will keep you on your toes since you're aiming to stay unnoticed."

"Whatever."

Kakashi yawned. "Well, that's it, so don't screw it up."

"And may the power of youth be with all of you as you make this most amazing journey of training and life!"

"Okay, that's enough!" Tsunade sounded loudly. "It's time, so now your masters will take you to the outskirts of the village center, and then you're on your own." She directed her attention to the adults. "Take them near the watch tower and let 'em go."

"Yes, ma'am."

"All right, good luck and stay out of trouble. See you all at dinner."

* * *

The guardians and the deities were the first to depart into the village center. Those training to be in the security force had stayed behind with the intention to head out after a short while. Rather than staying together in a group, each pair was given orders to head towards different parts of the village with the endeavor to stay separated from the others. However, they knew that staying away from each other was going to be difficult.

Hinata didn't seem to mind either way. She headed straight towards the marketplace with Neji staying by her side. After all, the marketplace stretched throughout the majority of the village. Surely, she wouldn't run into any of the others there.

She kept her pace slow, taking time to re-memorize the sights around her. She was happy that she hadn't forgotten her way around the village, but she was surprised at how everything seemed smaller than she remembered. Of course, as a small child, everything around her seemed colossal. It was almost…too normal now, yet very nostalgic. She had become so enthralled in the sights around her that she jumped at feeling Neji's hand wrap around her own. She turned toward him in slight shock.

Neji only offered her a soft smirk. "Where to first?"

Facing forward again, she held her closed hand against her lips in thought. "I…I'm not sure…"

"Well, we could shop and see what the vendors are selling, or we could wander aimlessly, if you prefer."

Hinata couldn't help but smile widely at him, absently leaning into his side.

Tilting his head to glance at her, he offered one more suggestion. "If not those, then we could always go visit your parents if you happen to remember where you used to live."

She stopped walking, feeling as if her body had tensed into an absence of movement. "My parents…"

Gauging her reaction, Neji backtracked quickly. "Or we could not, and perhaps forget that I mentioned it."

Placing her hand over his own, she tried to assure him. "No, it's…it's fine. I'm just not sure about that yet." She paused. "I want to, but…after what Temari said, I'm starting to think that maybe it would be better if I stayed away."

His grip tightened on her hand. "You don't have to decide on anything now. We have hours ahead of us, and people to avoid."

Hinata giggled, feeling contented by Neji's unique humor.

Offering her a gentle smile, he kissed her brow before starting to walk again. "Come on," He began to lead her away. "Let's go wander."

* * *

Choji followed Kankuro and Tenten in ways that he assumed would keep him hidden. Either way, he had nothing to fear since the two he was supposed to be watching were too engrossed in the conversation being held between them. Keeping his eyes on them, he attempted to silently eat from the stash of snacks that he had hidden in his pocket. He was also somewhat curious as to what they were talking about that managed to get them to ignore everything else around them. If only he wasn't too far away to hear.

Deciding to stop for a break, Tenten leaned against the side of a building, just as Kankuro stopped walking to stand in front of her. Turning her eyes on him, she raised a brow. "So, how are your dolls coming along?"

He felt a twitch of irritation. "My _puppets_, you mean?"

She shrugged. "Whatever."

Rolling his eyes, he answered. "Two of them are finished, and I'm still working on the third. Although, now I have to go back and fix up Crow, because Shino's bugs totally screwed it up."

Tenten laughed. "Oh yeah! I saw that spar between you two. It's too bad you lost, but Shino is pretty intelligent, so…"

After hearing her compliment the bug-lover, he scowled in indignation. "Intelligent, sure, but don't you think he's a little on the disgusting side?"

"How so?" She seemed shocked by his opinion.

"The way he uses those bugs…He lets them climb all over him, and uses them like weapons as if he controls them or something. Since when did he pick up that talent anyway? It's unnatural."

"The way that you have a fascination with _dolls _is unnatural." Tenten grumbled, knowing what was going to happen next.

Kankuro nearly exploded. "They are _not _dolls. They are _puppets_!"

"Sure, sure." Tenten smiled, waving it off.

"I'm serious!"

"Uh huh."

* * *

Oh, what he wouldn't give to be able to lay down and gaze at the overhead clouds before falling into a nap. Even just the cloud gazing would've been great for Shikamaru. But no, he had duties to perform, and he had just realized that he was being watched like a hawk. It really should've been no surprise to him to know that Gaara would detect his presence from the moment Shikamaru started trailing both him and Temari. Gaara was, after all, something very otherworldly. Shikamaru had yet to figure out why, though.

They were all situated at one of the many areas included in the marketplace. Temari was going between the different stands, which were selling foreign artifacts and other various items. She was bartering and exploring, talking with each trader for a great amount of time. If Shikamaru had to guess and based upon how well he knew her, he would say that she was merely figuring out the history of whatever item had temporarily captured her interest.

Despite that, it was Gaara who had Shikamaru gritting his teeth in annoyance. The redhead would simply lounge a good distance away from people, selecting somewhere to sit back and close his eyes, arms crossed over his chest casually. How was it that he could relax, and Shikamaru had to stay alert? If he weren't so intimidated by Gaara, he wouldn't care. However, he learned his lesson quickly.

All Shikamaru had done was lie down when Temari was taking an extra long time at one stand. The minute he did, he managed to catch the eye of the redhead as he was resituating into a more comfortable position. Gaara had stared at him with a slight threat in his aquamarine eyes. Shikamaru only had time to gulp before standing up and trying to look more alert. Only then did Gaara turn away and close his eyes again.

Shikamaru was truly starting to hate Asuma for assigning him to the two siblings. He could at least pride himself in the fact that Temari still had no idea about his following them.

Before he knew it, Temari was moving again. Shikamaru watched as Gaara calmly stood and followed after her, but halted to glance back at his position to see if Shikamaru was going to follow.

Sighing to himself, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and planned out how he was going to stay in the shadows until Temari found something else to catch her eye. "Man…This is really troublesome. Damn you, Master Asuma."

* * *

Kiba wasn't having a great time either. Sakura wanted to shop, and Lee was following her around like a lost puppy, and a very loud one at that. He couldn't understand how Sakura could so easily ignore the green-clad boy. It wasn't just that, though. The more that Kiba observed them, it was amazing to see that Sakura could also control Lee with a snap of her fingers. Kiba couldn't help but shiver at just how scary that girl was. _What is wrong with Lee? Better question, what does he see in her?_

Sakura smiled as she placed the jeweled ring on her left ring finger. Smiling wider at the vendor, she giggled in excitement. "It's beautiful!" Inside her mind, she could easily fantasize Sasuke giving her a ring as beautiful as the one she was wearing. Ah, if only.

"Hey, hey, hey!" a man on the opposite side of the street called out to the others around him. "We have more to carry, so get on it! I want three or four men on every log! Get moving!"

Sakura couldn't help but turn her attention to the group of men. They were obviously working by carrying large, long logs to some shop at the end of the block. There were a lot of logs piled up, and it appeared that every man was straining to carry the heavy burdens. Sakura's green eyes followed two men, who were hauling a log towards the shop together. One of the men was obviously much older than the others, but despite his visible struggle, he was still moving, the muscles in his arms growing taut.

He was suddenly baring his teeth before crying out in pain. He automatically let his hands free of the log to place at a certain spot on his back, not realizing what he had just done. Sakura gasped.

With a brief flash of green, Lee caught the end of the log before it had time to drop to the ground. The younger man, who was holding the other end, merely blinked at the replacement. "Who the hell are you, and where did that old man go?"

Lee smiled widely. "He is behind me, and I am Rock Lee—here to help!"

When the pain had subsided, the man turned his eyes to the origin of the two hands that were helping him to stand straight up. Sakura smiled gently at him. "Are you okay, sir?"

He blocked out her question to turn wide eyes at the boy in green, who had apparently taken his place. "How…How did you get there so fast?"

Lee turned back to him, raising his thumb while smiling, his other hand supporting the weight of the log. "Not to worry, sir! I will take care of everything! Let us carry on!"

After Lee had departed with the other man and the log, Sakura faced the older man again. "What are you guys doing anyway?"

"Our jobs." He ruggedly replied. "We're all carpenters working under a major contractor. We're stocking up today, which explains why we're moving all this wood into the shop. We've a lot of work to do, y'know."

"Oh, well…How often do you have to…'stock up'?"

"Every damn day. We just take turns carrying the damn things."

"I see. So, uh, how many more logs do you have to carry?"

"As much as we can before nightfall."

Silence passed for a short moment before Sakura questioned warily. "Would you…like some help?"

He shrugged. "I don't see why not. That friend of yours should do nicely."

"I'll help carry, too."

He quickly snapped his attention back to her in astonishment. "You? A girl?"

"I assure you, sir, I'm strong for my age and gender."

"Yeah?" He stared at her skeptically. "How much can you lift exactly?"

She could only offer him a mysterious smile in return.

Kiba watched in confusion from his hiding place. Eyebrows furrowed, he leaned closer. "I've got a bad feeling…"

* * *

Hands entwined behind his head, Naruto watched Ino from the corner of his narrowed eyes, lips pursed in boredom. "Aren't you done yet?"

Still gazing over the expensive-looking jewelry, Ino pretended to ignore her guardian.

"Hey, Ino! Are you done yet?" Naruto just asked louder.

"Shut up, Naruto, I'm busy." She retorted, hearing him growling under his breath. Seeing a sapphire-embedded necklace, she held it up to the trader. "Are these real sapphires?"

"Of course, miss. I examined 'em myself. Of the highest quality, they are."

Narrowing her eyes at him, she let every thought of his be transmitted to her mind. "Oh, really? You see, I'm not sure. They look more like _blue quartz _to me."

The trader gulped before giving her a disarming smile. "Now, why would you think something like that?"

Curling her lip in anger, she leaned toward him, palms pressed onto his set-up display. "The better question is why would _you _think that?"

"What?"

"Yes, exactly."

"But, I—"

Ino smirked. "Don't bother. I already know what you're saying." She dropped the necklace, and turned on her heel. "Let's go, Naruto."

"Finally!"

"Onto the next one!"

"Aw, damn it…"

Ino casually glanced back at the blonde boy, seeing him stuff his hands into his pockets while glaring at everything at once. "If you didn't want to shop, then why'd you come?"

Feeling his anger boil up inside of him, Naruto threw his hands up into the air. "Because I had to! This is supposed to be training, but it sucks!" He was shouting fairly loudly at that point. "This would be so much better if I could just fight someone or something!" Out of nowhere, something hard and small knocked into the back of his head, causing one of his hands to immediately cover up the slowly forming bump. "Ow! What the hell was that?" Glancing down onto the dirt ground, he spotted an out-of-place rock, which was no bigger than the tip of his thumb. "What…?"

"Hurry up, Naruto, and stop making an ass of yourself." Ino hollered, gaining more distance from him as she had quickly spotted another jewelry stand.

"I'm not making an ass of myself…" He grumbled below his breath as he began walking again. Quickening his pace to keep up with Ino, he had failed to keep his distance from the passersby. One man had bumped into Naruto, causing for the both of them to stumble back a few steps.

The man merely scowled at Naruto. "Watch where you're going, kid."

It definitely wasn't a good day for the blonde boy. "You were the one who bumped into me, asshole."

"What did you call me, punk?"

"You heard!"

Readying his fists, the man stepped closer. "Don't make me put you back into your place."

"Go ahead and try! I could kick your ass easily any day of the week!" Pulling his hand into a tight fist, Naruto reared up to attack. "Ow! Son of a—" he cradled his head in pain after feeling another random rock collide into his skull. Feeling tears prick his eyes, he looked around him frantically. "Where are those rocks coming from?!"

"Naruto! Damn it!" Ino suddenly grasped onto his arm tightly, dragging him away while apologizing to the man. "Sorry, sir. He didn't mean it." Turning to Naruto, she hissed at him threateningly. "If you were anymore idiotic, I'd kill you myself! Just shut up and stay with me, cause I swear that if you cause trouble here, I'll hurt you a lot more than I ever have!"

"But I didn't do anything, Ino!"

"Shut up!"

Out of sight of the villagers, along with Ino and Naruto, stood a dark figure on top of a nearby shop. Shino was motionless and without expression, clenching onto the multiple small rocks hidden within his fist.

* * *

Sasuke could easily see Shino's position, along with Kiba's and Shikamaru's. Where Choji was, he had no idea. Despite that, he couldn't help secretly wishing that he could trade Shino, since the bug-lover had the most amusing duty of hurting the clueless Naruto. Nothing was more fun than causing pain to the most annoying of people. _Actually, he's not that bad compared to those two love-struck idiots who insist on obsessing over me. Perhaps I don't envy Shino that much._

Glancing back to the two that he was supposed to be watching, he panicked at not seeing them anymore. Looking further ahead, he saw the pair approaching the end of the marketplace. _Shit. _Jumping from his hiding spot, he ran across the houses and shops, staying as stealthy as possible.

He jumped onto the nearest building from where the two Hyugas were walking, trying to locate a spot to stay so that others would not see him easily. His heart nearly stopped when he had placed his foot too heavy on the roof, allowing for a few pebbles to roll down.

Noticing the out-of-placement, Neji snapped his attention to that spot, not seeing anything there. He only narrowed his eyes before turning back to his deity.

Hiding on the other arch of the roof, Sasuke cursed silently. _Damn. Asuma was right about that one. _The corner of his mouth turned upward. _Heh. Perhaps this will be more challenging than I thought._

--

"Here," Neji motioned over to a nearby bench. "Sit down. We've been walking for awhile."

Hinata nodded, taking her seat on the bench, while watching Neji sit down next to her. It was silent between them, which usually wasn't a problem. It became one to Hinata as she continued to stare at her guardian, noticing his distracted expression. She opened her mouth to ask him what was wrong, but he spoke before she had a chance to make a sound.

"Why don't you ever wear that necklace I gave you for your eighth birthday?" He didn't look at her as he asked.

Momentarily stunned by the question, Hinata absently covered her chest with her hand, absently hiding the pendant just beneath her clothes.

Neji continued, still not facing her. "If you didn't like it, you could've said something."

Widening her eyes just slightly, she leaned toward him, grasping onto the hand closest to her. "That wasn't it." She protested, watching as he turned to stare at her blankly. "It was beautiful, Neji…and it looked so expensive. I couldn't stand something happening to it while I was wearing it. I would feel so guilty." Inwardly, she couldn't help but chastise herself for being a hypocrite in that nature. After all, she never took off the necklace that Itachi gave her, and it was diamond.

"I gave that necklace to you so you could wear it…not hide it away."

She lowered her head morosely. "I know…I'm sorry, Neji…"

Entwining his hand with hers, he squeezed it gently. "I didn't mean to make you feel bad about it, Hinata. I was just curious." He tilted her chin up so that they were looking eye-to-eye. "I gave that necklace to you for you to do with it what you want. I was just wondering what you were doing with it. I apologize if I made it seem like I was angry about it."

She nodded in understanding before sighing to herself.

Silently, Neji wrapped his arm around her shoulders, while pulling her closer to him. She didn't seem to mind his silent request. In fact, she nestled into his side, curling her body until she was able to rest her head within the crook of his neck. From there, Hinata amused herself by playing with Neji's free hand, following the lines on his palm with her fingertips.

Unfortunately, the moment didn't last long. It was ruined by a few kids running right in front of the couple, heading towards some unknown destination. The smaller boy in the back of the line was shouting to the others, telling them to wait. They didn't seem to hear him, and before the boy knew it, he had accidentally tripped, allowing his body to crash harshly into the dirt ground.

Hinata gasped and sat up before rushing over to the boy within only a few seconds time. Neji followed shortly after.

The boy was lying on the ground, clutching his knee to his chest, and crying. In Hinata's eyes, he couldn't have been more than five years old. Situating him into an upright position, she placed one of her hands on the top of his injured knee, which had been cut fairly deeply, and the other hand cradling his face. "Shh, it's alright. You're okay." Her fingers brushed over his dirtied cheeks, wiping away his river of tears.

"No, it hurts! And it's bleeding!" He cried, keeping his eyes sturdily closed.

Hinata tried to contain a smile. "Are you sure that it still hurts?"

He nodded his head fervently.

After retrieving her hands back to her sides, Hinata smiled sincerely. "Well, that's funny. Your knee looks fine to me, if not a little dirty."

He sniffed in surprise and opened his eyes to gaze at his once injured knee in utter shock. He could've sworn that there was a huge cut there a moment ago. Now, there was nothing, not even any pain. Not knowing how to react, he stared at the person who was trying to calm him down, only to see that it was a young, dark-haired girl, who happened to have white eyes and a motherly smile. His own mother smiled like her. "Did…Did you make my owie better?"

"Mhm. You're all better now."

He warily stood up, still staring at her curiously. "Can you make anything better?"

"Mmm…" She shook her head. "No, not anything…just owies."

"Oh…" His face brightened. "If I was sick, could you make me feel better?"

Hinata giggled. "Probably. I've never tried that before, though."

He smiled back at her warmly. "Well, I gotta go. Thanks, lady!" He waved, while running off in a different direction than before.

Hinata waved as well, watching him depart from her sight.

"Are you sure that was wise?" Neji murmured as he approached her from the side.

Glancing at him, she retorted with defiance. "Well, I couldn't just stand there and do nothing, Neji."

Sighing, he eventually nodded. "At least nobody saw. That's the important thing. As long as it's still a secret from the villagers."

"_No more healing anything, okay? We'll keep it our little secret. You can keep a secret, can't you Hinata?"_

Her mother had said that. Why did it always have to be a secret?

"Hinata?"

Snapping out of her momentary reverie, Hinata turned to Neji questioningly. "What?"

His brows furrowed. "I asked if you were hungry."

"Um…" She forced herself back from her memories, while trying to determine if her stomach was demanding food or not. Finally offering Neji a small smile, she replied. "A little, yes."

He nodded slowly. "Are you alright?"

"Of course."

"Okay…Stay here." Glancing at her with concern, he turned on his heel to walk towards one of the nearby food stands. Only seconds later, he returned with two apples, one for each of them.

"Thank you." Hinata spoke upon receiving her fruit. However, before biting into hers, she couldn't help but wonder. "Um, Neji?"

"Hm?"

"How did you get money to pay for this?"

He waited until he had finished chewing before answering. "Pretty much the same way that all of us have money."

"But I don't…"

"Of course you do. Everyone at the temple does."

"Really?" She couldn't contain her surprise.

"Yes. For some of us, our parents left money with Lady Tsunade and Lord Jiraiya in case we ever needed it. For the others, if they ever need anything, Lady Tsunade would pay for it." He paused briefly. "I would bet that your parents left you some money too. If you ever want any of it, just ask the Lady."

"Is that what you did?"

He shook his head. "No. The money that my father left me, I keep in my room. I managed to run to my room to grab some before we had to head here."

"Oh…" The conversation ended there and suddenly, Hinata was back to gazing around the marketplace while eating her apple.

People walked by, minding their own business, as others went from vendor to vendor to buy groceries. It wasn't hard to remember all the times that Hinata had gone with her parents to buy their food. Of all the trips that she accompanied them on, only one went terribly awry.

She could practically hear her father's voice in her mind, as well as almost see the memory play out before her.

She remembered the old man exclaiming loudly about her being a deity and having goddess blood.

She remembered her father's eyes widening as panic set in just moments before he ran to her, grabbing her hand in haste. As soon as she was in her father's arms, he ran as fast as he could back to their house for safety.

"_I'm sorry, daddy. I-I didn't mean to...I just wanted to h-help the doggy...I-I'm sorry, daddy..."_

"_Shh—Hinata. Now's not the time. We have to get you home."_

"_But, daddy...I-I gave away our s-secret...I'm sorry..."_

"_It doesn't matter anymore, Hinata. Just stay quiet for now."_

Hinata stood, releasing herself from the memory. As she looked around her, it was strange to realize that she was standing in the same area where that terrible occurrence took place. Trailing her eyes away, she took notice of a small road, which led away from the marketplace and towards a row of houses.

She knew that road, for it was where her old home was located.

Without thinking it through, she began walking towards that road in the deepest of dazes. She nearly didn't hear Neji calling out her name while following her hastily.

To Hinata, it only felt like seconds before she and Neji were standing in front of her old home, a place that she had almost forgotten. It looked smaller and much older than she remembered, as well as exactly the same. Sadly, it had also become a foreign place to her. It was a place that she knew she would never be able to call "home" ever again.

Despite that, all that ran through her mind was whether or not her family was home.

"Hey, you kids!" A man called out to them, as he was standing outside the next house on the right. "I've never seen either of you before. You lookin' for someone?"

Neji glanced to Hinata, noticing her silence. Turning back to the man, he chose to answer himself. "You wouldn't happen to know where…Hiashi Hyuga lives, would you?"

The man was quiet for a few seconds, seemingly trying to recall the name. "Oh yeah, Hiashi Hyuga. Yeah, he lives in that house that you're standing in front of. You have business with him?"

"Yes," Neji continued the conversation. "We've traveled here in hopes to speak with him."

"Well," The man chuckled dryly. "You came at the wrong time. It's spring, you know. Those Hyugas are never here in the spring, and sometimes stay away even into summer."

Alarmed by the news, Hinata absently stepped forward. "They're not here?"

"Nah. Last I knew, they travel around between the villages during this time of year. Although, they weren't able to—what was it—four years ago when that demon warning was going on. Back then, no one was able to come to or leave the village. Definitely put a damper on a lot of trader's spirits."

Neji became immediately interested. "Demon warning…I wasn't aware that there was threat of a demon four years ago."

"Heh, you wouldn't. You don't live here, right? Didn't you say that you traveled here?"

"Yes." Neji replied snippily. "But tell me about this demon."

"Another time, lad." The man walked away from his house. "I have to get going, but if you really care to know, just ask anyone. No doubt they remember. Anyway, sorry that you didn't get to see Hiashi. Come back in autumn."

Neji watched the man walk away, feeling clearly disappointed at the lack of information.

Meanwhile, Hinata couldn't help but look forlornly at the house that she once called home. Thoughts ran through her mind, all confirming what Temari had warned her about.

Her parents knew that spring was her favorite time of year. As soon as winter ended, her and her mother would spend hours together, working on the garden.

Now…her parents chose to travel during that time of year instead. They had moved on—worked at learning to forget about their firstborn daughter's existence. It was better that way, right?

"_Most parents, after giving up their child to the temple…they move on."_

"_They learn to forget that they had a child with unnatural abilities." _

"_It's just easier to pretend like that child never existed."_

Grasping onto her hand, Neji forced her attention onto him. "Want to look around your house?"

She shook her head fervently. "I'd rather not. Can we just go back?"

"Hinata," Neji approached her. "It won't be trespassing or anything, if that's what you're worried about."

Still shaking her head, she attempted to pull him with her. "No, please, Neji. Can we just go? Please?"

Neji's eyebrows lowered in pity at her lost expression. "Sure…Let's go."

* * *

Neji glanced up at the overcast sky once they had emerged back onto the main street. "We have a few more hours before we have to head back." He paused to meet Hinata's gaze. "What did you want to do until then?"

Hinata smiled softly. "I'm not sure." She giggled. "It's been so long since I've been in the village that I don't remember what there is to do besides shop."

Neji chuckled in reply. "I suppose we could shop, then. At least until something stimulating comes to mind."

"Okay."

--

As interesting as the Hyugas were, Sasuke found himself rolling his eyes at the immense boredom he felt. The only ounce of excitement came when Neji was keeping the Uchiha boy on his toes. Unfortunately, whenever Hinata talked, Neji seemed to ignore the world around him and focus on her like she was some type of rare gem. Sasuke didn't understand it, and when he didn't understand something, he got very frustrated and temperamental.

Making himself more comfortable, he let his eyes wander to the people flooding the marketplace. He had no idea that there were so many people living in Konoha. That is, compared to the population of his old village, Konoha held quite a large number for itself. To Sasuke, that wasn't a good thing. All it meant was that there were more people to annoy him.

His eyes automatically followed the Hyugas for a second before he groaned in exasperation. _I hate people…Pointless humans and their pointless existences…_However, just when he thought he'd fall victim to a bored sleep, his eyes snapped over to a pair of humans running down the street. A thin and gangly woman held something bundled up in her arms as she ran with a panic. Keeping up with her was a small boy, just as thin as she was. Sasuke watched listlessly as the little boy pointed ahead of him, exclaiming something that the Uchiha couldn't hear or understand.

Although, now that he was really looking, the small boy looked very familiar. It only took a second for Sasuke to conclude that it was the same boy that Hinata had healed not too long ago. It was a risky move on her part, but only the boy was witness to it, so it didn't seem like something to get alert and ready for.

That didn't seem to be the case anymore since the boy and the woman were running straight for the Hyugas. _Shit. This doesn't look good._

--

"Do you like any of them?" Neji asked, unwillingly letting his amused smile shine through.

"Hmmm…" Hinata brightened as she pointed to a ring, which was decorated with a dark amethyst. "I like this one. What do you think, Neji?"

Picking it up, he held his other hand out to her, motioning for her to give him her free hand. "Try it on and see…" He unintentionally lifted his gaze as an unnatural motion behind Hinata caught his eye. His eyes, in turn, narrowed skeptically as his body tensed when he saw the boy from awhile ago, along with a woman he could only assume was the boy's mother. The only problem in Neji's view was that they were running towards Hinata, their target.

"Hey, lady!" the boy called out, not stopping until both him and his mother were within a few inches of Hinata.

Recognizing the voice, Hinata turned around in surprise at seeing the pair.

Before she had anytime to speak, the woman was already speaking, while her breathing was heavy. "Miss, please. My son told me how you healed him, and if it's true, then that would surely mean that you are one of the deities, the one with healing abilities. If that is so, please, I beg you…heal my baby!" Uncovering a part of the cloth that was the bundle in her arms, the mother revealed a pale-looking infant. Its lips were unnaturally blue, and if it weren't breathing, Hinata would've thought it was dead.

Hinata's lips trembled as her eyes switched between the baby, the mother, and the little boy. No sound wanted to escape her lips.

Neji quickly intervened, placing his body in front of his deity's as a way to shield her from the woman. "Leave quietly or I will force you away."

The woman ignored him, having her eyes set on Hinata only. "Please, miss, I beg of you! If goddess blood truly runs through your veins, then you must help my baby! She's only a month old and very sick, so please! If she doesn't get better then she'll die!"

The boy stepped forward bravely. "I told my mommy that you could make anyone's owies better. Could you please make my sissy better too?"

Neji growled angrily. "Back away now. I will not warn you again."

"Please, miss!"

"Neji," Hinata murmured, placing her shaking hand on Neji's shoulder. "Let me help them."

His angered face turned on her instead. "Are you insane? Do you have any idea what trouble this could cause? We need to get out of here now before this turns any worse."

"Neji, it'll be fine." Hinata protested, pushing past him. "I can't just stand by and do nothing."

"Hinata!" Neji voiced desperately, knowing he wouldn't argue with her on it.

Silently, Hinata placed her hands over the infant, forcing her own energy into the child. As she did so, her opal eyes remained on the baby girl's face, watching as color was slowly draining away the pale and blue.

It wasn't until a blush of red rose up on the baby's cheeks that Hinata pulled away, knowing that her job was finished. The baby began whimpering, showing off a healthy cry. The mother could only weep as she held her child tight to her bosom. "Oh, thank the goddess…thank you, thank you, thank you…Oh, my baby!"

"Is sissy better now, lady?"

Hinata nodded slowly in answer to the boy's question. The baby was sicker than she thought, for Hinata had lost more energy than she planned.

Neji eagerly wrapped his arm around her shoulders, supporting her in case she couldn't. "Are you alright?"

Hinata nodded again, breathing deeply.

"Can you run?"

Furrowing her brows in confusion, Hinata turned to him. "Run? Why?"

He turned his attention away from her, and focused his eyes on their surroundings instead. "Because you have attracted everyone's attention. If we don't start moving, this is going to get really bad."

"A deity!" Someone yelled.

"There's a deity!"

"She's from the Divine temple!"

"She has goddess blood!"

"Damn." Neji cursed under his breath. _Too late now. They're already crowding around us. Damn it!_

The crowd had gathered around them, and before either of them could fathom it, dozens of humans were running up to them, begging the deity to heal their injuries or those of someone dear to them. Hinata had no idea that there were so many ill and wounded people in the village. How could all of that have happened to them? And all of them were pleading with her to lend them her healing powers.

Neji was forced to place Hinata behind him, while he pushed, shoved, and acted as a shield to keep them from touching his deity. The problem was that there were way too many people, and only one of him.

A thud sounded from a few feet behind Neji, and when he turned, he recognized Sasuke's garments and his unusual hairstyle. "How did you get here, Uchiha?" Neji called to him over the noise of the crowd.

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder while simultaneously keeping the people away from the deity, who stood sandwiched between them. "I've been following you two for awhile. All of us on the security force were given the mission to watch you from a distance. The Hyugas wouldn't give me any trouble, my ass."

"We need to get Hinata out of here!"

"No shit, Hyuga. I'd like to escape alive, too, while I'm at it."

"Hinata is first priority. Don't forget that."

Sasuke scowled as he continued to force the people away. "Whatever." He growled in anger at the oncoming crowd. "Why don't we just kill these idiots and get out of here."

"We are not to hurt the civilians."

"Then what do you propose we do, genius?"

Neji was silent, his face forming into a tight frown. "I…I don't know yet. I can't think…"

"Damn it…" Sasuke gave the line of people one hard push to keep them away for a few seconds. Taking advantage of those few seconds, he put his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly.

--

Choji paused his eating at the familiar whistling sound. Before him and the other boys set off after the guardians and deities, Kakashi had told them to keep in contact no matter what. So, they all decided that should trouble occur, they would whistle loudly so that the others could join them to help.

That was the whistle, and even though he didn't know who did it, he knew that he had to find out soon.

Putting away his snacks and adopting a rare serious expression, Choji jumped down onto the ground, quickly approaching the guardian and deity that he was supposed to watch.

Kankuro and Tenten turned to him in surprise.

"Choji?" Tenten muttered in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

Gauging the larger boy's facial expression, Kankuro tightened his fists. "What's going on? What happened?"

Choji didn't hesitate to reply. "Someone's in trouble. We need to go so we can figure out who, and hopefully help."

--

It was no surprise that Kiba's finely tuned ears could pick up the high whistle. Knowing the meaning immediately, he did just as Choji did, and ran to Sakura and Lee quickly. He grasped their attention quickly, speaking before either could even open their mouths. "We need to move…and fast. I'm pretty sure that that whistle was from Sasuke, which means…"

--

"Hinata is in trouble. We need to leave." Shino spoke, watching as Naruto switched to a very determined stature.

"What happened to Hinata?" Ino asked, appearing worried.

"We don't have time for that, Ino." Naruto replied hurriedly. "If Hinata is in trouble, then we need to get going now. Shino? You know where they are?"

--

Gaara's eyes snapped open, and barely a second later, he was standing erect, alert and inwardly panicked. "Hinata…"

"You know?" Shikamaru appeared next to him.

"Know what?" Temari walked closer to the two as soon as she saw Shikamaru appear. Judging by her brother's appearance, it wasn't good. "What is it?"

Shikamaru replied hastily. "Hinata is in trouble with only Neji and Sasuke guarding her. If Sasuke signaled for our help, then it must be bad—"

Temari grew wide-eyed at seeing her brother suddenly disappear in a whirl of sand. "Gaara!"

"Don't worry about it. It shouldn't be too hard to find them."

"Are you kidding?" Temari exclaimed, obviously frenzied. "How the hell are we going to find her?"

"Simple." Shikamaru shrugged. "Just follow the people who keep yelling about a deity in the village."

--

Hands were touching her, tugging on her clothing, pulling at her…begging her…pleading with her…

Neji and Sasuke couldn't do a thing about it. After all, there was only so much they could do to protect her without being forced to seriously harm the village civilians.

It was so noisy. All she could hear was voices yelling to her. She couldn't understand them all, even though they were all shouting the same basic phrase. "Deity! Help me! Please!"

She had to help them…She had to…If she didn't, then what use was it being a healer?

She continued to reach her hands out, trying to heal someone, only to have her hand yanked somewhere else.

People were clawing away at others, trying to get closer to the descendent of the goddess.

Neji and Sasuke could only do so much.

So many faces and voices…so many people to heal…Her eyes couldn't keep up with it all.

She was weak and breathing heavily.

She was dizzy and exhausted.

She could feel her world fading into darkness, despite how she tried to fight it. "No…"

It was useless, for her body collapsed as soon as her eyes fell away into the back of her head.

Among all the voices and the screaming, she could hear distinct voices, ones that stood out above all the rest. Those voices called out to her…all of them yelling… "Hinata!"

"_Everyone get back!"_

"_We need to get her back to the temple quickly!"_

"_Shizune! Find out what's wrong! Now!"_

"_Hina, snap out of it! Wake up, damn it!"_

"_Hinata…Can you hear me…?"_

"_Leave her be."_

"_Hinata…It's Neji…Can you hear me?"_

"_Hina!"_

"_Hinata!"_

"_Hinata…"_

"…_Hinata…"_

_A warmth against her chest…_

**_"Hinata…"_**

_A voice that only she could recognize with perfect clarity._

_**"Go to sleep…"** _

* * *

**Okay, so it's been awhile. Like usual, my homework has been piling up on me, and still is. Any spare time I had, I was working on this, which goes to show just how much time that was. Not to mention, I went through a period of writer's block, so that was just great. It was mostly homework, though. Ugh…hopefully, the load will lighten sooner or later.**

**Also, I know you guys probably have a lot of questions, like "Does Tenten still have a crush on Neji" or whatever. Don't worry, everything will be answered in the upcoming chapters. I just have to get there...**

**Right now, I'm focusing on getting you guys, the readers, more acquainted with Hinata's relationship with Neji and the others. That's what this chapter and the next ones are going to be centered on. I also wanted to show the growth that all the characters have accomplished and are still accomplishing. Since all that plays a huge part in future chapters, I'm getting it all down right now. Awesome, right?**

**Lastly, thank you to everyone who took the time to review. I can never seem to express my gratitude enough. Please just know that I appreciate you guys like crazy. **

**Okay, see you all next chapter!**

* * *


	14. Vulnerable

**Author Note: **Thanks for the reviews!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Age Reminder: **Rookie Nine: 12 — Neji, Tenten, Lee: 13 — Kankuro: 14 — Temari: 15

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XIII**

**Vulnerable**

* * *

"_Real love hurts, real love makes you totally open and vulnerable. Real love will take you far behind yourself, and therefore real love will devastate you. If love doesn't shatter you, you will not know love."_

_-Unknown_

"_Love is not love until love's vulnerable."_

_-Theodore Roethke_

"_Love that we can not have is the one that lasts the longest, hurts the deepest and feels the strongest…"_

_-Unknown_

* * *

There were times when in the back of her mind, Hinata knew that she was dreaming. And yet, her subconscious self triggered a feeling of reality that flooded through her entire body and soul. Mostly, though, there were many times in which Hinata hoped that her dreams were real, and that she could remain inside that sense of comfort forever. Other times…she would scream in her dreams, begging to awaken, to have her reality restored, so that she could live in the reality where the tragedy of her mind could remain hidden.

It was easier to repress her subconscious feelings and memories when she was in control to do so. Currently, however, she did not have that control.

There were brief flashes of different images and different people.

For the most part, it was Itachi's face that was at the forefront of her mind.

Memories of the things he had done and said…memories of the different ways he would look at her…the many different facial expressions that all related closely to indifference.

In every dream that she ever had of Itachi, it was almost always the same. It would switch to different places, but the actions and people never changed.

It either took place in the meadow, the village center, the temple courtyard, or even her bedroom.

Like a few previous times, her current dream setting was the meadow.

At first, she was always playing her harp, but never hearing what she was playing.

She would be leaning against her large animal friend Mr. Wolf while she played.

There would always be a large gust of wind that tousled her hair, though she couldn't feel it.

And then _he_ would appear.

_His face was a mask of indifference, but his blood-red eyes were tainted windows that attempted to hide what his soul was yearning to show. _

_Then slowly and with careful movements, he would extend his hand towards her, asking wordlessly for her to come with him._

_She reached toward him until her hand fell into his own, and that was when the dream turned._

_Mr. Wolf had disappeared and Itachi was no longer in front of her. Instead, she could see him walking into the unknown darkness far away from her. She would call out to him, desperately screaming his name, begging him to wait for her, to not leave her._

_As much as she tried to move, she felt stuck and hopeless as she continued to watch him slowly disappear into the black abyss of her memories. _

"_Itachi!"_

**_"I'm leaving…"_**

"_No…Wait!"_

"_**It'll be awhile before I come back…"**_

"_No, don't leave me…!"_

**_"Go to sleep…"_**

_"Itachi, please…Don't leave me…"_

**_"Go to sleep, Hinata…"_**

_"Itachi…No…Don't leave me…Please…"_

_It was too late. His figure was already disappearing, and there was no chance of her being able to reach him._

"_Itachi!"_

Her throat was sore as she released a moan, suddenly feeling her body awaken, while her mind was forced to readjust to being conscious. Inhaling deeply, she slowly pried her eyes open, blinking a few times to clear her vision. The first thing she took notice of was the dimly lighted room—or whatever it was—that she was in.

Quickly, her mind had to reassure her that she was in a bed, though it was not her own. She was also in a smaller room with the only color dominating the space being white. Despite what her sight was revealing, her ears picked up on a faint scratching sound.

It stopped suddenly. "Good, you're awake."

Gasping, Hinata turned towards the origin of the voice, setting her eyes on the thin, dark-haired woman. With short hair and dark eyes, it only took a second before Hinata identified the person. "Miss Shizune…"

Shizune smiled briefly before looking down at the papers she was holding in one hand, the other hand holding a writing utensil. Placing the objects onto the nightstand next to the bed, she approached Hinata's bedside. "How are you feeling?"

"I-I'm alright…" She murmured, glancing down at the thin bed-sheet that covered her body, which was surprisingly still clothed in the garments she wore into the village, which was…Now, her mind was confused. When was that? How long had she been in bed? Just…what happened, exactly?

"No physical pain?" Shizune asked, unaware of Hinata's distant mind.

Looking at Shizune, Hinata shook her head. "No…"

"That's good." She exhaled deeply. "I was worried there for awhile when I saw you frowning in your sleep. I wasn't sure if you were in pain or not."

Furrowing her eyebrows, Hinata emanated disorientation. "I…was frowning?"

"Mhm." Shizune answered while checking Hinata's heartbeat. "But since you weren't in any pain, I suppose that it could've just been a bad dream, huh?"

Hinata offered the doctor a small smile before nodding.

Placing the back of her hand against Hinata's forehead, Shizune nodded to herself as she backed away. "Well, you don't have a fever, you're not ill, and you don't have any injuries. You're perfectly healthy. From what I gathered, you just passed out from exhaustion. With all those people surrounding you, I wouldn't guess otherwise."

"I passed out?"

"That's right."

Blinking and trying to remember, Hinata couldn't help gently shaking her head. "Miss Shizune, what happened? I don't…really remember. I remember all those villagers surrounding Neji and I…and I remember Sasuke being there too. I remember trying to heal them, but…I don't…"

Shizune nodded. "Yes, well, from what I was told, you fainted…and probably at that time. As for the details, you'd have to ask Lady Tsunade since I wasn't there. I didn't see you until Gaara brought you in."

_Gaara did? _Hinata let herself fall into silence, gradually noticing how really quiet it was; not just in the room, but outside it as well. It was so silent… "Miss Shizune, what time is it?"

"Late." She answered quickly. "I'd guess it's about midnight now. All the others are in bed except for the adults…" she smiled. "And three certain children out in the waiting room." Shizune watched as Hinata tilted her head in curiosity. "You've only been asleep about eight hours, and I need to go get Lady Tsunade to come see you since it was her request that I do as soon as you awoke." She walked towards the only door in the room, opening it quietly. "I'll be back."

After Shizune left, Hinata decided to look about her surroundings once again. She was definitely in one of the rooms within Shizune's medical ward. They were dull rooms, and the beds were too high above the ground. That, and there were no windows, so it was impossible for Hinata to determine whether it was night or day, despite that Shizune had already told her the time.

Sitting up in the bed, Hinata let the sheets crumple into her lap, her eyes still wandering around the room while her hand automatically reached to her chest to grasp onto the pendant that Itachi gave her…only to realize that it wasn't there.

Panic settled in quicker than her heart could skip a beat. She clutched at her chest and neck, searching for the meaningful necklace, not finding it anywhere. Her lips were trembling, her eyes moistening, and all that ran through her mind was, _Where is it?!_

The door opened, and Hinata's eyes snapped in that direction, focusing onto red hair and a face masked with indifference. She recognized Gaara, but something was definitely off with him. Her mind temporarily put aside the necklace situation to worry about her friend's appearance. He didn't look well at all.

In fact, as Gaara took slow, staggering steps toward the chair near her bed, she noticed how haggard he looked. She knew that he didn't sleep much, but that never affected his appearance. As of that moment, he looked as though he just returned from a year long, restless battle—minus the battle wounds. She had never seen him look so exhausted. To make it worse, when he finally sat down, she was able to hear how deep and strained his breathing was. "Gaara? Are you alright?"

"Fine…" He paused, gathering his breath. "Lady Tsunade will be here…I need to give something back to you first…"

She didn't speak, but watched as his hand disappeared into his pocket, and upon pulling it back out, he revealed her precious necklace. He held it out to her as if asking for her to take it quickly, which she obliged to without hesitation. It was as though she had a piece of her soul back. As soon as it was back around her neck, her hand automatically went to grasp onto it, although it was being hidden beneath her gown.

Gaara heard and understood her sigh of relief, while feeling as though he had to explain his reasoning. "I had to take it. Shizune had to examine you, and that necklace would've attracted too much attention. I thought I'd hold onto it until you were awake."

She smiled at him in gratitude. "Thank you, Gaara. I didn't think of that…"

He nodded once, breathing easier as he relaxed into the chair, something that was almost too open for Gaara. He usually never revealed such sides of himself as that, and it made Hinata smile warmly at seeing a brief glance at the vulnerable side of her harsh friend.

Pulling out the pendant to rest on the palm of her hand, Hinata smiled lovingly at the diamond. Her eyes softened as she let her thumb stroke the edges in a caress. Within the diamond, she could see the unmistakable blood of her demon friend and the way it cryptically glowed. _Itachi… _Her smile widened briefly and didn't fade until she had hidden it beneath her gown once again.

Only then did she look up only to see that Gaara was staring at her with an enigmatic look to his eyes. Biting her lip, she thought to shyly ask, "When was the last time you slept, Gaara?"

His eyes narrowed. "You know that I do not like to sleep."

"I-I know, I just…" She lowered her head, trying to hide her embarrassed blush. "You don't look so well…"

He was silent, only moving his eyes to avoid her glimpse of concern. "That necklace…" He began slowly, knowing that she would wait quietly until he would speak again. "There is…great power that comes from it. It's as if it's only meant to be worn by…certain people." His eyes met hers with meaning.

"What do you mean?" She whispered.

"For eight hours, I carried it with me." Gaara looked away again. "For eight hours…it slowly drained my energy."

Her eyebrows rose in surprise mixed with horror. "H-How…?"

The expression on his face didn't change. "I think it can detect when it's not being held by its owner—owners. By draining energy…it must be some type of defense mechanism, signature to that demon blood." He didn't mention that just by being in its presence, there was that constant warning to stay away. After feeling the draining of his own energy, he realized that it would be wise to not get too close to Hinata when that necklace was on her person.

Her surprise and horror drained away into concern for her dear friend. "Oh, Gaara…" She reached out to hold one of his hands. "I'm so sorry…"

His eyes fell to their conjoined hands, and once more, he was puzzled. Despite how he felt that warning, it was fainter whenever she touched him. He still didn't understand the pendant fully—only knowing that it was truly an enigma, something only the maker of the necklace would comprehend.

The door opened at that time, revealing Tsunade with Shizune shadowing her steps. They both entered, closing the door behind them. While Tsunade stayed near the door, leaning against it with her arms crossed, Shizune walked near Hinata's bedside, taking up her position by the nearest wall. Tsunade smiled at the small, twelve-year-old girl. "It's nice to see that you're finally up, Hinata. How are you feeling?"

Returning the smile, Hinata answered politely. "I'm fine, thank you."

"Good." The Lady glanced over to Gaara with a sly twinkle to her eye. "Wanted to be the first to see Hinata, huh, Gaara?"

He retained his ever-present mask of indifference. "I was awake. I didn't see why not."

"Mhm." She smirked, pointing out with her eyes the way that they were holding hands.

Seeing what the matriarch was motioning towards, Hinata couldn't help but blush, releasing her handhold on Gaara.

With a quiet chuckle, Tsunade continued to look at Gaara before nodding her head towards the door. "Well, I need to speak with Hinata, so why don't you go get some rest, Gaara. You look like you need it."

He merely grunted before standing up and walking lithely to the door, a stature so very opposite to how he came in. He opened the door, glanced back to Hinata, and then left.

Once he was gone, Shizune looked to the matriarch. "You know that Gaara won't do that, right?"

"Oh, I know." Tsunade spoke while coming to take the seat that Gaara once occupied. "He'll stay out in that waiting room, just like Temari and Neji."

"Temari and Neji?" Hinata questioned, expressing her shock.

"Oh, yes." Tsunade was smiling again. "They've been out there since you've been in here. The only difference between them and Gaara is that they are actually sleeping right now. I wouldn't blame them, since they've been out there for…seven to eight hours."

Lowering her head, Hinata felt somewhat ashamed. She didn't mean for them to worry so much, but then again…it was Temari and Neji. She supposed that could hardly be her fault since they were so protective anyway…

"Okay," Tsunade started speaking again, attracting Hinata's attention. "So, Shizune tells me that you want to know what happened, right?"

Hinata nodded eagerly. "Yes, please."

"Very well. I can do that, but keep in mind that I wasn't there. Everything I know is what everyone told me. Before I get into that, though, I thought I should ask you about why there were so many villagers surrounding you."

Feeling that familiar shame, Hinata bowed her head once again, allowing her fingers to fiddle in her lap. "I healed a little boy…and then his little baby sister, who was very sick. After that, it was like every villager saw what happened, and then…there were so many of them…surrounding us and begging me to heal them…I tried to heal as many as I could, but…" Hinata shook her head. "Neji was right. I should've listened to him when he said that I should've kept my powers hidden." Gazing up at Tsunade with passion and determination in her white eyes, she leaned forward. "But I felt I had to. I felt that I _needed _to help them. I had to at least try…I'm sorry…"

"Hey," Tsunade placed her hand over Hinata's entwined hands. "That's enough of that. I didn't ask so that you could start feeling repentant. You did what you had to do, and no one can fault you for that." She sighed. "Not to mention, if anyone's at fault, it would be the lot of us adults. I suppose that we didn't think through everything when we decided that going into the village would be good for all of you." Another sigh. "I don't think that we counted on just what the villagers were capable of."

Hinata was quiet, keeping her head slightly lowered.

A brief moment of silence passed before the matriarch began speaking again. "It really wasn't your fault, though, Hinata. You need to understand that." She glared at the girl until Hinata obliged by nodding her head. Only then did Tsunade lean back in relaxation. "You know that my grandmother was a deity, right?"

"Yes."

"My grandmother shared the same power as Sakura, so it's easier for me to understand Sakura's problems over any of you other girls. However, my grandmother told me once about how each deity had their share of problems. The one that she thought had it the worst was the deity who could heal."

Hinata was surprised again. "Really?"

Tsunade nodded. "I never met the healing deity back then, since she had died in the war. But, my grandmother did tell me about her, though she didn't like to speak about those who had died in battle. She told me that the healing deity had it the worst, because she was both blessed and cursed at the same time with an overly compassionate heart. There are always people in this world that are ill and injured, and there always will be. Your job will never be over, and your power will always be needed." She leaned toward Hinata, giving her a sympathetic gaze. "That's a huge burden for only one person to bear…especially one who cannot live forever. People will always look for you and see you and desire your help. And you won't refuse, because it is engraved into your heart and soul to help those in need."

Hinata nodded, knowing exactly what the matriarch was saying. "I…I do want to help, Lady Tsunade. I want to help all of them."

Tsunade smiled, despite that it did not reach her eyes. "I figured you would. But," she held up a finger. "We will discuss that later. For now, I'll let you know the details of what happened, and then I want you to go back to your room and try to get some more rest before morning. Do you think that you'll be feeling up to going about your usual routine tomorrow?"

Hinata smiled and nodded happily. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good." Leaning back, the Lady tapped her finger against her chin in thought. "Okay, where should I start…?"

"I, um…" Hinata silently interrupted. "I was wondering…how Sasuke got there…Because, I remember seeing him, but then I blacked out, and…"

"Ah," Tsunade figured that she would start from there. "Well, unbeknownst to you deities and your guardians—well, some of the guardians—those boys that are training to be in the security force were given the task to follow behind all of you. Sasuke was assigned to watch over you and Neji, and to supply extra help should Neji need it…which he did. When Sasuke saw that Neji wasn't able to handle all those people, Sasuke had to surrender his hidden position in order to help keep the villagers away from you."

"He was following us the entire time?"

"That's right. I'm actually surprised at how well he did. He knew that he and Neji couldn't handle the crowd by themselves without harming the villagers, so he uncharacteristically called for help from the other security force boys. I think that this was about the time that you passed out."

"I remember hearing voices, though…"

Tsunade shrugged. "I wouldn't doubt it. There was quite a bit of commotion after you collapsed. The adults that were keeping an eye on you guys had to come in to help, and even the other security force boys came, along with the guardians and deities. It was a huge mess, from what Kakashi told me."

Hinata resituated into a more comfortable position, while showing the matriarch that she was still paying attention. "I see…"

The matriarch suddenly laughed to herself. "Apparently, Gaara got there right in time. He managed to catch you before you could even hit the ground. He was the one who transport—" She suddenly cleared her throat awkwardly. "He was the one who brought you here."

"Oh…"

"Neji and Temari were particularly worried." She chuckled and shook her head. "Poor Neji…" She stood and patted Hinata's head gently. "In case you didn't already know, you have that boy wrapped around your little finger."

Hinata could only watch Tsunade start walking towards the door, while she remained frozen for the moment. "W-Wait, but I…Neji…"

Tsunade turned to her and winked before opening the door. "I'm going to get all three of them in bed. Meanwhile, Shizune's going to check you over one more time before escorting you to your room. I'll tell Neji to come get you in the morning for breakfast. Okay?"

"Yes…ma'am…"

"We have more to talk about tomorrow. Until then, goodnight Hinata."

"Goodnight, Lady Tsunade."

The door closed, allowing for Hinata to turn towards Shizune, who had remained quiet for the duration of their talk.

In turn, Shizune approached Hinata. "Alright, let's make sure that you can walk without falling down."

* * *

Tsunade wanted Hinata to try to get some more sleep, but that was proving to be easier said than done. Hinata had already slept for eight hours, and trying to go back to sleep was something that she wasn't capable of doing at the moment.

Eventually, after giving up lying in her bed, she claimed a seat atop her balcony railing. The surface of the railing was quite large, which allowed for her to hug her legs to her chest whilst gazing distractedly at the night sky. Like most of the time when she was alone, she held one hand to her chest, grasping soothingly at the pendant. _Itachi…Where are you? When will you come back for me? You promised that you would…How much longer do I have to wait?_

Gulping, she looked down at the courtyard before dragging her eyes up and around to the temple walls. She could see other similar balconies with the curtains billowing in the slight breeze. Hidden behind the curtains, she knew that the occupants were no doubt sleeping…save for one, not counting herself.

Almost in direct vision to her room, she could see Gaara's room. More importantly, she could see him leaning against one wall on his balcony, arms crossed casually over his chest, eyes focused on the stars above. It came as no surprise to her when he stopped and turned to look at her, since he could sense when he was being looked at. When their eyes met, he nodded while she offered a small smile and a short wave. Only a moment later, he disappeared in a whirl of sand before reappearing on her balcony, not two feet from her.

Watching him near her, she thought to break the silence. "You're not going to sleep?"

It wasn't until he was leaning against the balcony railing that he answered her. "Perhaps later. I will not need much."

Her lips curled into a welcoming smile. "You're already starting to look better."

He merely inclined his head toward her in acknowledgement, as if it was his way of agreeing. "Those with demon blood have a way of recovering at a rate ten times faster than humans. My energy will be back by dawn."

"That's good…" She paused briefly. "Do you know if Neji and Temari went to bed?"

He nodded. "Lady Tsunade forced them, despite their protests to see you."

She giggled silently before biting her bottom lip. "Lady Tsunade…told me about what happened in the village." Her eyes rose to meet his, emanating insurmountable gratitude. "Thank you…for helping me."

Gaara looked up to the sky again, keeping his expression and tone of voice neutral. "Is that not what a friend is supposed to do?"

"Yes," Hinata hugged her legs to her chest even tighter. "You're a very good friend, Gaara."

A foreign feeling of happiness flooded his body, though he did not reveal it outwardly.

They did not talk after that. There was only silence between them as the sounds of night filled the air. They could hear distant owls calling into the breeze, which caused the leaves of trees to rustle together in a type of lullaby.

The nightly weather was not cold, and it usually never was in their village, except during the dead of winter. Only during those times were the balconies sealed off to preserve heat inside individual rooms.

During spring, though, the weather seemed to be kept at constant warmth, a comfortable warmth. Hinata definitely loved spring the most. It was a time to pick flowers and help them grow, to practice with her harp in the gardens, and…to remember times when she used to do those same activities within a distant meadow, where she would spend long hours with her wolf friend and her favored demon companion.

Her heart ached painfully every time she remembered those days and those precious moments. She couldn't count how many times she spent in her room, closing her eyes and replaying memories that she had kept locked deep inside herself.

She held such an unbreakable longing to be with them again. There were so many times that she became tempted to tear apart that wall until her escape to freedom was open again. Hinata loved her temple home and the friends that she could easily call family. She loved being around Temari and Gaara and Neji. She loved laughing at the antics that Naruto was an expert at creating with the others. She loved watching the secret friendships between Shino and Kiba, and Ino and Sakura, and most entertainingly, Naruto and Sasuke. They were close friendships hidden beneath a guise of annoyance, irritation, and jealousy. She loved it all the same.

Nonetheless, her home had become an invisible prison since the day that she had befriended the red-eyed demon and the gray-haired wolf. Oh, what she wouldn't give just to see them again…just once.

"Your demon seems to protect you even when he is far away." Gaara broke the silence, jarring her out of her reverie.

She didn't say anything in reply, but grasped onto her pendant with a tighter grip.

"You miss him." Gaara stated, turning his emotionless gaze on her. "I see it in your eyes, and I notice it when you think that no one is looking."

Her lip trembled as she nodded.

He continued. "You don't want to be here…but you don't want to leave either. You feel helpless…stuck between two worlds."

She could feel her eyes moistening, though she tried to restrain her tears.

"I wonder which world you will choose when the time comes…"

Hinata sniffled, rubbing away the traitorous tears beneath her opal eyes. "Gaara…" She shook her head, clutching onto her clothes as a form of self-protection. "I…It's been so long since the last time I saw him…He said that he would come back…He promised me…" Despite how she had fought it, more tears trickled down her pale cheeks, which glistened under the moonlight, giving her an ethereal appearance. "Every time I close my eyes…I can see his face…" Her fingers shook as she held her blood-filled diamond. "It's like he's always there…at the back of my mind." She laughed bitterly. "When I'm…not feeling well…I can hear his voice…telling me things that he's said to me before…"

Gaara could only stare, feeling his insides turn with different emotions at seeing her practically fall apart in front of his eyes. His eyes followed her movements as she curled into herself, releasing trembling whispers. If vulnerability had an image, she would be it. It was no wonder that she evoked strong feelings of protection in those close to her.

Slowly, his feet moved, taking him closer to her insecure form. Making sure to not touch her, his lips moved to whisper. "Hinata…"

Her eyes snapped to meet his own in utter shame, which was signified by her head lowering. "I'm sorry…" She attempted to smile it off as she stepped away from the balcony railing. "I probably sound crazy, don't I?"

How could anyone look so lost, weary, and alone? Gaara didn't understand it, and even worse, he didn't know what to do or say that would make her feel better. Unless…

A brief flash of emotion flickered across his face as he recalled the time when Hinata was depressed about her demon leaving. They were children then, but what he tried had worked.

Clenching his teeth uncertainly, Gaara stepped in front of her, dragging his arms up around her. As soon as she felt his touch, she immediately stepped closer to him, wrapping her arms around his torso, clenching her fingers onto his clothes. Gradually, his grip became secure, while Hinata hid her face in his chest, her shoulders shaking in response to her quivering breaths.

_Itachi…Please…Please come back…_

* * *

Itachi could finally breath easy and let his mind rest at ease, knowing that the significant necklace was back where it belonged—around Hinata's neck.

The past twelve hours had felt like an eternity to him. Each second was filled with intense emotion, though it was not his own. For the first few hours, he had felt the drastic and quick shifts of Hinata's emotions, ranging between excitement to utter trepidation. However, he had become used to that over the past four years. What he wasn't prepared for was the overflowing sense of panic that flooded through his body, as if a giant boulder had crashed into him, knocking him sideways. What made his heart quicken at that was the knowledge that the panic originated from the necklace's current owner.

Not being able to perform adequately, he was forced to withdraw away from his warring companions, seeking out a hidden place of solitude to focus entirely on returning the emotional balance.

He spent what felt like hours attempting to transfer a soothing sense of protection into his distant pendant, hoping that the feeling would reach Hinata to settle whatever was making her panic so.

It seemed to have worked, but it really only went downhill from there.

Suddenly, he could not sense her presence in the back of his mind like he was used to feeling. Through his blood in the diamond, a fragile and faint connection was made between Hinata and him, allowing him to sense when she could possibly be in trouble. Although, that connection was based upon her emotions, so he was never fully able to see or understand whatever it was that was causing her intense emotional outbreaks.

Either way, as soon as he could no longer sense her or that delicate connection, he had meditated for hours…using every ounce of energy to mindfully search for the cut in the connection and the reason why.

It was an exhausting process, even for a demon such as himself. As far as he knew, very few and only the very powerful demons were able to go to those limits and use their power in such a way as that.

Unfortunately, he was helpless and at the point of abandoning his campaign in order to return to see whether she was safe or not. But finally, all at once, she was there again…calm, relieved, and pacified. Itachi wasn't aware of the breath he was holding until he released it, feeling calm himself at the return to normality.

By the time he had opened his eyes, returning from his deep meditation, night had already fallen and the chill of the north had settled in. There was also a familiar presence nearing his position, which was made noisily known by the thud of footsteps behind him. "What is it, Kisame…"

"Heh," The shark demon crossed his arms tightly over his broad chest. "So, this is where you've been. Well, I hope you're done with whatever you were doing, because Pain and Konan are back with orders from the leader."

"Very well." Fluidly standing up, Itachi turned and began to lithely walk toward Kisame and past him into the dense forest, heading straight for the designated meeting spot.

The blue-skinned demon walked next to the Uchiha, allowing silence for only a brief moment. "Can you believe that we've been on this stupid campaign for—what—four years now?"

"Conquering all of the north, claiming territory, and decimating demon-hunter villages has never been considered short-term, even for the most powerful of demons." Itachi replied monotonously.

"Right…" Kisame grumbled. "And just how much longer are we going to be doing all of that?"

"It depends on the leader's orders."

"So…Another four years?"

"Possibly. Perhaps more."

"Damn…" Kisame paused very shortly. "Don't get me wrong, I love human slaughter as much as the next demon, but doing it as often as this just gets boring. It's starting to feel more like an occupation than entertainment."

Itachi stayed silent, letting Kisame ramble on like he normally did.

"When this is over, I could live a hundred years without seeing a human and be perfectly content."

"Hn,"

"What? You don't think I could?"

Itachi didn't answer, and Kisame didn't have time to add anything else before they entered into the meeting place, where the rest of the leader's favored demons were waiting. There were nine "favored" demons total, also known as the leader's secret weapons. When the leader wanted something done efficiently, they were the ones who were sent, just as they were for the current campaign.

Though they were favored, few had ever seen the leader's true colors. In fact, of the nine there, only four truly knew just who the leader really was. Two of them happened to be Pain and Konan, known by the majority of demons as the leader's hands. As usual, they were the ones acting as messengers, distributing orders to the other demons, just as they were currently about to do.

"Good of you to make it, Itachi." Pain began. "I was beginning to fear that we were interrupting on your precious solitude."

"Nearly." The Uchiha demon murmured, typically expressionless.

"Hm." Pain grunted before glancing around the rest of the group, all wearing similar black clothing attire. "As for the new orders, pay attention well, for I'm only going to say this once. We are targeting three villages. Two of them are demon-hunter villages, and the other one is merely an annoyance. One of the demon-hunter villages is located the farthest south from here, and will be the most challenging. Konan, Zetsu, and I will handle that one."

It wasn't hard to miss the sarcastic eye-rolls and incoherent grumbling from certain members.

Pain continued. "The other demon-hunter village is located fifty-seven miles southeast from here. I want Kakuzu, Hidan, and Sasori to take care of that one. Itachi, Kisame, and Deidara will handle the civilian village. The village is directly to the west of us, situated near the shoreline. Kisame, you are to go into the ocean and have the other shark demons provide a sort of barricade on the side of the village nearest to the water. Any humans that attempt to escape into the water for refuge will be yours to deal with."

Kisame couldn't resist the natural upward pull of his lips.

"Deidara and Itachi will attack the village directly. I'll give you the coordinates in a moment. Now, something for all of you to keep in mind when pursuing your missions…As per usual, leave none alive."

Few of the demons responded with emotionless stares and closed-lip silence. Most of them, however, openly expressed their growing excitement at the human blood to be spilt.

Slowly and in calculated measures…every demon's naturally born aspiration was coming to fruition.

The world would soon be theirs to rule and dominate.

There was no point in hiding how sincerely dispassionate Itachi was at that notion. It didn't matter to him what village had to be destroyed, or how many humans would soon lose their lives, as long as Konoha remained untouched…at least while a certain white-eyed individual was occupying it.

_Hinata…_

* * *

Itachi could sense when she had finally fallen asleep. There was a moment that seemed as though it lasted forever that he could sense her erratic emotions. There was such pain there, but it was not physical. Hinata was in emotional pain; so much so, that he could practically feel her heart aching. She was feeling lost and vulnerable and confused, at least until she had calmed down enough to sleep.

He didn't realize just what it meant when he gave her that necklace, and therefore forging a connection between them. He was frustrated at the minimal connection, though. He could sense whatever emotion she was feeling without having a clue as to what caused her to feel that way. It wouldn't have been such a big deal if it didn't interfere with his outward appearance and his performance during missions. The mission did get completed in the end, but not without difficulties. What made the matter more frustrating was that sometimes the others would notice and comment about his mental awareness.

Deidara just happened to be one of them. It was normally Kisame that questioned him on it, but the shark demon was not traveling with them; rather, he had gone a different route, aiming for the ocean.

It was Deidara and Itachi who were traveling together, towards the civilian village near the coast. They traveled at a fairly quick pace so as to get there while the night was still present. To a demon, nothing was more enjoyable than attacking humans during the night, when they were most vulnerable and scared. If it was screaming they wanted, night was the opportune time to aim for.

During the travel, it was normally a very silent time with very little talk between the demon partners. Unfortunately for Itachi, Deidara was far from being a non-talkative being.

"I still don't understand why the leader does this all the time." The blonde began. "It only takes one of us to destroy a village, so why send three, hm?"

It took a vast amount of restraint to hold back the temptation to roll his eyes. Instead, Itachi replied. "It doesn't matter."

"Of course it does, yeah!" Deidara countered passionately. "It's a total waste of time."

Itachi released a quiet exhale. "At this point in the campaign, the leader just wants the villages gone, and to be destroyed quickly. That's why we were sent in groups."

"Hmph," Deidara grunted before grumbling under his breath. "I still think it's stupid."

The red-eyed demon remained silent, taking to mind that there was only one-half mile left before they reached the outskirts of the village.

Sighing and allowing his frown to falter somewhat, Deidara eyed Itachi briefly before facing forward again. "Y'know, the others were right. You seem…different."

Itachi didn't acknowledge the blonde.

Nonetheless, Deidara continued. "When I asked Sasori about it, he told me that you 'tend to get distracted'." He mimicked the redhead's voice, as well as scrunching his face into a comic frown. "Is that true, yeah?"

"Believe what you want. It is of no consequence to me."

Deidara frowned in confusion. "I don't know what the hell you just said, but I sure hope that you aren't planning on getting distracted during our mission."

"I wasn't aware that someone could _plan _on getting distracted." Even speaking at a monotone, there was still a sense of sarcasm leaking from Itachi's words. At least, Deidara thought so, or suspected it anyway.

However, before the blonde could retort, Itachi silenced him by motioning towards the fact that they had arrived at their destination.

Suddenly finding himself in a pleasant mood, Deidara smiled maliciously. "Oh, lovely and petrified human screams, here I come!" He laughed maniacally. "Let's spill some blood!"

"Leave none alive." The dark-haired demon murmured, allowing his blood-red eyes to spin lazily under the moonlight.

* * *

The village had become practically decimated by the time the sun decided to show its face over the horizon. At that time, Itachi's sword was stained with the blood of many, as he continued his search in every residence for any survivors. Deidara, he knew, was doing the same, just as Kisame was from the coastline. _Leave none alive._

That wasn't difficult to understand or obey, considering civilians were hardly challenging or even worth the hunt. Unfortunately, orders were orders, and the campaign had become that much closer to being over. At least, that's what Itachi told himself day after day, mission after mission.

He could feel the dried blood on his skin, causing it to itch faintly. There was no doubt in his mind that he would go bathe as soon as the village was cleared of human life. He only had a few more houses to scour, which wouldn't take too long.

There weren't usually any problems with human slaughter, and his "distractions" were gone—thanks to the fact that Hinata was still asleep and unharmed.

With the barest of sighs, Itachi entered the last house, allowing the wooden door to open with a loud creaking sound just before the hinges came loose, and the door fell to the ground. Walking unperturbed through the arisen cloud of dust, his eyes glanced over every detail of the small cottage, searching for any sign of life.

Surprisingly, he had only been in the house for a brief moment when a faint whine tickled his ears. Going immediately towards the direction of the sound, he was led to a mediocre door, too small to match up with the other doors. As he got closer, he could hear rustling, which seemed to have been caused by struggling of some sort.

Bored and without hesitation, Itachi quickly grasped the handle and opened it wide, revealing a small closet. Before he could even look around inside, something charged him, forcing him to leap backwards, keeping his sword ready.

The creature stopped at the entrance to the closet, as if guarding it fiercely. With rigid shoulders and sharp teeth on display, the dog growled furiously at the intruder.

Itachi in return only scowled in irritation. He was really starting to _hate _canines, and their obsessively protective natures.

Overlooking the dog, Itachi set his eyes on what the animal was guarding so ardently. A strange sensation occurred to the demon when his eyes lay upon the trembling figure of a small, dark-haired girl.

For the briefest of moments, Itachi was not seeing a dog guarding a little child. Instead, a familiar memory rushed at him before he had time to blink. He remembered the gray wolf growling at him threateningly, as it protected the uncertain white-eyed girl behind it. _She _was always the most vivid in his memories, though he couldn't explain why.

Her dark hair, bordering on a slight violet color…

Her opal eyes, emanating pure moonlight…

The way she held herself, with always her dainty knuckle resting against her petite lips…

And then she would visibly relax upon meeting eyes with him…smiling timidly with an occasional embarrassed blush painting her naturally pale cheeks.

_"Hi, Mr. Demon…"_

"_Itachi…"_

"_Itachi,"_

"_Itachi?"_

"Itachi!" A voice yelled out to him, breaking off his dazed reverie. "Yo, Itachi!"

Turning to the origin of the voice, Itachi noticed Deidara standing outside the front door, looking in at the scene in bewilderment.

Raising his hands into the hair and furrowing his eyebrows, Deidara stared at the Uchiha. "What are you doing just standing there, yeah? Finish 'em off so we can leave already!"

Turning back to the still growling dog and the trembling human girl, Itachi formed a mask of indifference over his face before his grip tightened on the hilt of his sword. With two swings, two different heads fell to the ground, and even more blood dripped down the demon's blade.

Even more so, his hand gripped tight to the hilt, while familiar anger boiled up inside of him. It only took a few seconds to leave the residence and see Deidara and Kisame standing near each other conspiratorially.

They both had their arms crossed over their chests, as they seemed to examine Itachi. Deidara was the first to speak. "Took you long enough."

"It's over now." He murmured, turning on his heel to walk away.

The blonde obviously wasn't finished. "It looked to me like you were hesitating with that human. Is the mighty Itachi Uchiha growing a heart?"

Itachi came to an abrupt halt, turning until he was glaring warningly at Deidara, a promise of a slow death written in his eyes.

Backtracking quickly, Deidara gulped and waved his arms in front of him defensively. "Or I could be wrong!"

Ignoring the blonde, Itachi gave a brief glance to the shark demon. "Kisame, send a message to the leader from me."

Kisame watched as Itachi turned his back on him, though he did not walk yet. "A message? To the leader? About what?"

Repressing the intensity of his anger, Itachi spoke, slightly revealing venom in his words. "Tell him to finish his campaign…or I will end it myself. It has dragged on too long already."

And then he was gone before the sun even had a chance to rise fully.

* * *

**I know that it's shorter than the last chapter, but at least this one was updated sooner than the last one. Anyway, thanks for the reviews! You guys seriously keep me going so that I don't give up this story.**

**Don't forget to check my profile for updates, since it might come in handy.**

**Thanks again, and I hope to hear from you guys soon!**

**Tranquilwriter**


	15. Relinquish

**Author Note: **Thanks for the reviews! Also….I sense a time-skip.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Age Reminder: **Rookie Nine: 12 — Neji, Tenten, Lee: 13 — Kankuro: 14 — Temari: 15

**Side-Note: Too lazy to edit, so I apologize for any mistakes.**

**Divinity**

**Chapter XIV**

**Relinquish**

* * *

_"Dreams, ideas, and plans not only are an escape, they give me purpose, a reason to hang on."_

_-Unknown_

_"The only work that will ultimately bring any good to any of us is the work of contributing to the healing of the world."_

_-Marianne Williamson_

_"Time does not relinquish its rights, either over human beings or over mountains."_

_-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe_

_

* * *

_

When Hinata awoke the following morning, she was alone and tucked into her bed as if it was just like any other morning. The last that she remembered, Gaara was with her, so she could only assume that she had fallen asleep while he was comforting her in his own way. Within minutes, she assumed that it was he who situated her into bed.

She had just barely put on her gown and brushed through her hair when a knock sounded at her door. Staring at it blankly for a moment, she hesitantly walked towards it and opened the door slowly. Peeking around to see whom it was, an easy smile lit her face upon seeing her faithful guardian.

And he did not look well.

In fact, he appeared tense, panicked, and listless. Neji's usually intense silver eyes appeared dull and tired, which was accentuated by the darkened color of the skin under his eyes. His lips, which were usually held in a straight line, were turned downwards at the corners.

He had been staring downward thoughtlessly until he heard the door open. Upon seeing Hinata, he suddenly felt at ease, allowing his body to relax. A shot of brightness entered his eyes, and his lips curled into a lazy smile. "You're alright…"

Hinata was shocked at how husky and hoarse his voice sounded. Her brows furrowed in concern. "I am, but are you?"

He glanced away as if in thought before turning back to her and nodding once. "I've been worried."

Hinata nodded in understanding, gently biting onto her bottom lip. She opened her mouth a few times, but closed it soon after, as if debating what to say. Then, with a small smile, she spoke. "I was…told what happened, and…I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry."

His brows pushed together in confusion. "For?"

"Um…I…I should've listened to you. You told me that I shouldn't use my powers…that it was too risky…but I did anyway, and…I'm sorry for not listening when I should have."

He nodded before licking his lips briefly. "I only said that to protect you and keep you safe. You know that, right?" After seeing her nod, her offered her a tired smile. "As long as you're safe and alright, that's all that matters to me."

"Thank you…Neji."

Inhaling deeply, he offered his hand out to her. "Hungry?"

She giggled. "Very."

"Good. Let's go." He paused, watching as she received his hand to hold with hers. "I have a feeling that we won't be left alone today."

"What do you mean?"

He cleared his throat, suffocating his irritation. "Temari won't let you out of her sight. In fact, she'll probably reprimand you for a good half hour once we get in the dining room."

Hinata felt her stomach drop.

* * *

Upon first entering into the dining room, Temari met eyes with her and immediately stood from her chair. Quickly, she approached Hinata, her face emotionless, yet her brows drew together in either anger or concern—Hinata wasn't sure.

The older girl stopped when she was in front of Hinata, not moving and turning her eyes to Neji first to whom she nodded in acknowledgement. After Neji nodded back, Temari turned back to Hinata, not revealing any emotion or expression yet. For what seemed like hours, the three remained in silence, an awkward one for Hinata. Temari looked her younger friend over almost carelessly, but when her analyzing was done, she exhaled heavily as if in relief.

Hinata licked her lips and stared up at her friend through her lashes. "Temari…?"

The older girl frowned as anger and disappointment swept over her face. "What you did at the market was very stupid. We were told specifically not to use our powers and for very good reason. I don't care how you may justify it—it was a foolish decision on your part." She glanced to Neji. "And yours as well for allowing it."

Neji scowled and was ready to argue back, but Hinata interrupted softly. "Please, Temari…Don't blame Neji—"

"I'll blame whoever I damn well want to. Unless you are in danger, unless are being attacked directly, you never use your power—not ever!"

Although Neji did not appear calm, he spoke calmly with a slight edge to his words. "That's hardly logical, considering that Hinata's ability would not aid her in an attack since it is not an attack itself."

"That doesn't matter—"

"Are you ignorant? Of course it does."

"That's not the point I'm trying to make!" Her teal eyes flashed back to Hinata. "What you did was foolish. You put yourself in danger—"

"Temari, please…"

"If the others had not arrived when they did, something worse could've happened to you, something a lot worse than just fainting from exhaustion!"

It was at that moment that Hinata saw it, although Temari was doing a wonderful job at hiding it. Temari was afraid and worried for her friend. It was a fear that Hinata briefly remembered seeing in her parents' eyes when she was younger. Despite that Hinata escaped without injury, it was the situation and the implications and possibilities behind it that frightened Temari, and probably Neji as well. Realizing that, Hinata inched forward until she was hesitantly wrapping her arms around Temari and murmuring quietly to her. "I'm sorry for what I did…and I'm sorry that I made you worry."

Temari snorted, averting her gaze to the side. "Who said I was worried?"

Hinata looked up at her and smiled, repressing a giggle of amusement.

Temari glanced at her from the corner of her eyes before rolling them and sighing deeply. "You ever do anything like that again, and I'll do a lot more than just yell at you."

That time, Hinata did giggle. "I won't."

"Good. Now, come on and get to the table. You're late and the food is getting cold."

"Okay…"

The two girls walked toward the table side-by-side as Neji followed behind. Temari leaned toward Hinata, "And just to let you know…I'm not letting you out of my sight for awhile."

As soon as Temari turned her attention back towards the front, Hinata glanced back to Neji only to see him smirk and raise an eyebrow as if silently saying, "I told you so".

Once Hinata sat down, she realized that she was indeed late since the entire table was filled though it was quieter than normal. Not everyone was talking as lively as usual, which made Hinata wonder at the reason. It couldn't have been about what happened at the market place, could it?

"Hey," Kankuro spoke to Hinata, capturing her attention. When he caught her gaze, he smiled slyly and winked. "Don't worry about Temari. She's just the typical overprotective older sister. She's like that towards us all the time." He motioned toward himself and Gaara.

"Shut it, Kankuro." Temari hissed and continued to eat.

Hinata smiled at Kankuro before watching his attention turn back to Tenten, at which time, Hinata turned her attention to Gaara, who had been looking at her in contemplation. She offered him a small smile as if mentally thanking him for keeping her company the previous night. He nodded to her in understanding seconds before Neji grasped her attention eagerly.

Gradually, the unusual silence at the table began to diminish. That is, until Tsunade stood at the end of their table to address them seriously.

"Now that most of you are done eating, I wanted to address what happened at the marketplace yesterday morning." She paused, switching her gaze between the different faces. "I know that some of you were frightened, some of you were confused and in shock, and others kept their reactions under control. Don't feel ashamed for how you reacted, for any first-timer would've reacted as you did."

Tsunade sighed. "I was planning to have these trips to the village center many more times, hoping that you all would gain enough experience over time and in those situations. However, after what happened yesterday, I'm not so sure anymore. It was never my intention to purposely put any of you into danger just to learn a lesson. Yes, Ino?"

Placing her hand back onto her lap, Ino began. "Lady Tsunade, Hinata wasn't even hurt yesterday. Nothing happened to her—she just fainted and everyone overreacted. In my opinion, I liked going to the marketplace and I think that we should still make trips there as you had planned. I mean," She breathlessly chuckled. "Don't punish the rest of us for something that Hinata did." Quickly she turned her head toward Hinata. "No offense, Hinata. I'm just saying."

Hinata simply nodded her head, while those around her began to send glares in Ino's direction.

Turning away from that end of the table, the blonde set her gaze on her best friend instead. "Am I right, Sakura?"

The pink-haired girl adopted a shaky smile. "Of course."

Tsunade frowned. "I wouldn't be so quick to agree if I were you, Sakura." She spoke pointedly, watching as the girl lowered her head with her cheeks heating in shame. "First of all," She addressed the group again. "I am not punishing anyone. I am merely forced to reanalyze the situation further, since I underestimated just how the villagers would receive you deities. On that note," The Lady smirked. "Don't blame Hinata for wanting to help those around her. In fact, from my information, it wasn't just her who revealed her powers to those around her."

The group of young teenagers turned to each other in confused glances, exclaiming silently at their astonishment while trying to figure out who else had done such as Tsunade stated.

The matriarch continued with a clearing of her throat. "For starters, Sakura and Lee exposed their abilities to villagers, too." She paused, seeing the surprise on everyone's faces. Facing the two in question, Tsunade began again. "I am aware that you two assisted some men in transporting logs. According to what I've been told, Lee revealed his abnormal speed while Sakura revealed her strength."

Sakura stood, slamming her palms onto the table. "Nobody said anything, though! They probably didn't even notice!"

"Didn't notice?" Tsunade chuckled. "Sakura…Just because some of the villagers didn't remark on it doesn't mean that they didn't _see _it. Don't you think that it would be quite the sight to see a young boy run from one place to another in under a second just to help an old man from having a log crush him? More importantly, you don't think that it would be quite odd to see a twelve year old girl lift an entire log by herself, which would usually take two or three grown men to carry?"

Sakura gulped and bowed her head in shame before sitting down dejectedly.

"Naruto and Ino also disobeyed the rules."

Naruto stood angrily. "I didn't do anything, Granny! I don't know who told—"

"Naruto!" the older woman silenced him. "I know that you didn't do anything, but you could have if Shino hadn't interfered."

"Shino?" Naruto questioned in confusion. "But he wasn't—"

"Silence. You nearly fought another person, which would have revealed your heightened abilities and would most likely deliver a negative impact onto the very people that you're meant to protect."

Ino snickered. "I told you, Naruto."

"And Ino!" Tsunade continued. "You did far worse than Naruto."

"What?"

"Don't think that I'm not aware of you using your gift to read the minds of the vendors."

"But, I didn't!"

"Oh? Then how did you know that that necklace was embedded with blue quartz rather than sapphires?"

Ino's eyes widened. "How do know about that?"

Tsunade tilted her head to the side before shaking it. "Did you all seriously think that I would send you out there without having someone to watch your every move?" She snorted. "I may have underestimated the villagers, but I'm not ignorant as to what they're capable of when in the presence of something they worship." Pausing, she motioned to the boys nearest her. "Those who were sent to watch over the deities and their guardians, please stand." And they did, bringing about a certain amount of shock in a few of the deities and guardians.

Naruto was the first to speak upon seeing Shino stand. "Shino…Were you the one to watch us? Is that why you were there so fast to tell us about Hinata?"

Shino nodded.

"And you interfered?"

Shino smirked slightly. "How's your head feeling today, Naruto?"

A moment passed before Naruto stood in realization and pointed an accusing finger at Shino. "That was you? You were throwing the rocks at me? That really hurt, damn it!"  
"Enough." Tsunade silenced them, allowing the boys to sit back down. After sighing and rubbing her forehead with her fingers, she spoke decisively. "Now, you will all go about your usual day while I take time to think if letting you back into the village would be too risky. Carry on."

* * *

During Anko's class, Hinata was taken to the side and brought to an area full of dead greenery. In fact, it looked as though nothing could grow there at all. Anko gave her the task to search the ground for any life energy and to revive it. It was simply said, but not simply done.

Hinata had been working on it for what felt like hours. Her hand remained on the deadened soil with her eyes closed, searching for any life energy hidden within the ground. At that point in time, she was searching deeper and deeper into the earth, looking for some type of plant life that still existed. So far, she had no luck.

Then, suddenly, her lips parted in surprise before forming into a satisfied grin.

She had found it. It was microscopic, though; perhaps only an ounce of life energy to it, but it was there. Immediately, she began to send her own healing energy into the ground, directed towards the weakening, embedded plant. Her eyebrows furrowed together in added concentration until her energy finally enveloped the plant. She could feel and imagine the energy pulsating around the plant, gradually bringing it back to full health.

Finally, roots began to spring outward, travelling through the soil at an amazing speed. While the roots continued to branch in various directions, the thick, noticeable stem began to work its way upward, following the trail of Hinata's energy.

A small smile began to gradually form on her lips when she felt the soil beneath her hand shift until the stem was brushing and pushing against her palm.

"Hinata!"

Snapping her eyes open and gasping in shock, Hinata glanced toward the voice, seeing Anko motioning her over, while Kakashi was standing next to her.

Hinata nodded, but turned back to the plant first. It was a small stem so far with only one leaf adorning it, but she knew that it was healthy and it would grow…with continual care from her, that is.

Standing up and dusting dirt off from her gown, she walked over to Anko and Kakashi, wondering what she could be needed for. "Yes, Miss Anko?" Hinata asked once she was in front of the two.

Anko merely rolled her eyes and nodded towards the gray-haired man next to her.

Kakashi smiled, or at least, Hinata thought he was. "Lady Tsunade wants to see you, so I'm here to escort you to her office."

"Oh…Okay. Wait," Hinata stopped him just as he was ready to turn around. "Should…Should I get Neji?"

"No need. Let's go."

"Alright…" Hinata warily followed him out of the courtyard and back into the temple, where he began to lead her towards Tsunade's office.

As they walked, Hinata stayed behind him, being as quiet as he was. Neither talked, obviously, which allowed for their footsteps to be the only noise in the empty corridors. To Hinata, it was a long walk, and slightly uncomfortable since Kakashi, along with the other masters, intimidated her. Gai was intimidating in an awkward way, and Asuma was intimidating in a more subtle way. Kakashi, however, left them both in the dust. With a missing eye and the way he always kept the lower half of his face covered, there was something about him that seemed threatening and dangerous. Of course, she didn't feel as though he was dangerous towards her or anyone else at the temple—it was just an observance, and one she never forgot when near him.

Finally, they reached the doors to the matriarch's office. Instead of going straight in, Kakashi turned to her and motioned over to one of the couches nearby. "You'll have to wait until we're done, so go ahead and get comfortable. It shouldn't be much longer."

"Okay…" Hinata replied mutely, watching him enter the office and close the door firmly behind him.

It was silent out in the hall by herself. Despite that, she could only hear inaudible mumbles coming from inside the matriarch's office, making her wonder who all was in there. Tsunade and Kakashi were obvious, but Hinata swore that she heard other voices unlike their own.

Sighing, she leaned back into the couch, remarking mentally how comfortable it was, and played with her necklace in boredom. During which time, all she could do was wait…and wait…and wait…and wait.

--

"Did you bring her?" Tsunade asked as she watched Kakashi take his seat next to Sasuke.

"Yes, ma'am. She's waiting outside this room."

"Good. Then let's finish this as fast as we can." Tsunade turned her head until she met Jiraiya's gaze, who was standing just behind her. He nodded to her, motioning for her to continue.

Sighing to herself, she turned her gaze back to Sasuke, planting her elbows on her desk with her hands entwined in front of her face. "I am quite aware of what you did at the marketplace, Sasuke."

With the way she was being so serious, Sasuke almost thought that he was in trouble, but he couldn't be…could he?"

Continuing, Tsunade cleared her throat. "Allow me to be the first to congratulate you with gratitude. I don't think any of us truly expected you to jump and help Neji and Hinata as fast as you did…or at all, for that matter. It was a truly selfless action, and it's only proper that you should be rewarded for your efforts, hm?"

Sasuke couldn't help but furrow his brows, since he didn't know how he was supposed to react when someone was thanking, complimenting, and rewarding him. It's never happened to him before.

"So…" Tsunade collapsed her entwined hands onto her lap as she leaned back in her chair with a small smile tempting her lips. "I have decided that you will be lifted from your probationary supervision, since you have proved yourself trustworthy. However," She lifted a finger to stop the glee from rising to his face too quickly. "That is not to say that you will be free from supervision. You are still a child, just as your cohorts are. It is only logical and expectant for a group of twelve, thirteen, and fourteen-year-olds to be supervised, so don't take it personally."

Jiraiya nodded his head. "Is everything understood? Sasuke?"

The Uchiha boy quickly nodded before standing.

"Kakashi?"

"Of course, Lord Jiraiya."

"Good." He paused. "Kakashi, we still have something to discuss with you, so Sasuke, why don't you go wait outside the office until we're done."

Sasuke grunted. "Whatever."

--

Her eyes began to droop until she heard the door open and close, causing her to immediately sit upright and hide her necklace within her gown. Looking to see who had exited the office, she was surprised at who it was.

He, in turn, stared at her in slight bewilderment before glaring, then turning away in indifference.

She licked her lips nervously, wondering if she should say something. With how silent it had suddenly gotten, she figured that it might sound odd to say "hi", and he probably would only scowl at her more if she were to mumble a "how are you". Releasing a deep exhale, she unintentionally jumped when his voice sounded, interrupting the silence.

"Why are _you _here?" He was glancing at her out of the corner of his eyes, which were as black as coal.

Hinata's voice cracked in anxiety as she answered him, while keeping her head lowered. "Lady Tsunade asked to see me."

"For?" He raised an eyebrow, speaking with a patronizing tone.

Hinata shrugged before looking up at him through her lashes. "I don't know."

"Hn," He grunted and turned away before sitting down on the only empty couch available, which happened to be the one situated across from her. He had his legs crossed at the ankles with his arms crossed over his chest, the focus of his eyes staying on the office doors.

Silence again.

Meanwhile, Hinata couldn't help but look up at him once in awhile, shocked at how much he resembled Itachi, her demon friend from years past. She could remember that Sasuke knew who Itachi was, and apparently, so did Kakashi.

Over the last few years, anytime she had ever crossed paths with Sasuke, she couldn't help but wonder just what the connection was between Itachi and him. She had always mulled over the possibility of them being related since they both looked alike and shared the same last name. That thought was always quickly destroyed, though, when she figured that that would mean that Sasuke would have to be a demon, and demons couldn't enter Konoha due to the barrier.

Then again, Itachi was able to enter those few times, so…maybe it wasn't impossible. Then her thoughts would trail over to wondering just how Itachi was able to enter into Konoha with the demon-proof barrier being there.

Maybe the barrier didn't work anymore.

But if that was true, wouldn't more demons be entering into Konoha and terrorizing the people?

Confusion settled in, and it was made worse when Hinata realized that she couldn't necessarily ask Tsunade about it. In fact, the only person she had to talk to about such things was Gaara, but she doubted that he would know anymore about it than she did.

There it was again, Sasuke noticed. That faraway look that Hinata seemed to adopt once in awhile when she probably assumed that no one was paying attention. He noticed that she had been looking at him and was about to rebuke her harshly for it, but stopped when he saw that she wasn't really staring at him at all. In fact, she nearly seemed to be staring through him or at nothing at all—lost in her own mental and emotional world, senseless to everything around her.

It made him deathly curious, wondering just what could keep her mind so occupied. What could possibly be making her eyes open up to a vast array of deep emotions only capable of someone who was more mature to the ways of the world than someone their age should be? He could recognize it since he had gone through and experienced things that matured him speedily, but what could have possibly happened to _her_? To his knowledge and observance, she usually appeared as though she had lived a happy and fulfilled life so far, but he knew that wasn't the case. How could it be when she would look like she currently was?

He wanted to know. He couldn't help but want to know.

Just what was she hiding from everyone? What was she keeping so secret?

What, indeed.

--

The door opened and closed again; this time, revealing Kakashi. He looked to Hinata first. "You can go in now, Hinata."

She stood, hands clasped in front of her. "Thank you."

Turning to Sasuke, Kakashi spoke. "Let's go, Sasuke."

"Hn," He stood as well, arms crossed over his chest as he began following Kakashi down the corridor. That is, until a quiet voice called out to him.

"Mm, Sasuke?"

Both him and Kakashi half-turned toward her, but her eyes focused on the young boy completely. In question, Sasuke merely rose a brow in disinterest. "What."

She blushed in embarrassment before lowering her head and staring up at him shyly. "Um, I wanted to say thank you…"

"For…?"

"For what you did at the marketplace…how you…helped Neji and I. If you hadn't showed up when you did…it would've been a lot worse."

"I know." Sasuke seemed to look upon her with superiority. "Maybe next time, you'll take everyone's advice and not use your power in front of those annoying villagers."

"Sasuke," Kakashi shook his head at him in disappointment.

Hinata licked her lips and stared at the ground in shame.

"And don't bother thanking me, either." Sasuke continued. "I didn't do it for you, and I didn't do it to help your guardian. It was my job—that's all."

Looking up, Hinata adopted a small smile. "I understand that. Either way, I wanted to say thank you, whether it was your job or not to help."

Kakashi stepped in next to Sasuke, smiling slyly. "Now, Sasuke, this is the part where you say 'you're very welcome, Hinata. I would love to help anytime you need me'."

Sasuke looked up at him with a face ridden with disgust. "What? Why the hell would I say that?"

Kakashi chuckled. "Don't mind him, Hinata. He just doesn't know how to talk to girls yet. You see, he has a secret crush on all of you."

Sasuke was furious. "What?! That's a load of bull—" he continued to yell even though it came out as an incoherent mumble with Kakashi's hand covering his mouth.

"My, my, what a dirty mouth you have." Still smiling beneath the cloth covering half his face, he stared at Hinata. "You should probably head in now. Lady Tsunade is most likely wondering where you are."

"Oh, right. Of course." Hinata nodded. "Thank you, master Kakashi."

Watching the girl turn and begin walking towards the office, Kakashi faced away with his hand still over Sasuke's mouth. "Come along, Sasuke,"

--

As soon as Hinata entered the office, she caught sight of Tsunade behind her desk with Jiraiya leaning against the wall beside her.

Tsunade looked up and smiled. "Hello Hinata, why don't you take a seat."

"Okay," She closed the door behind her and seated herself in one of the two chairs positioned opposite the matriarch.

A few seconds after Hinata sat down, Tsunade breathed a deep inhale and began. "So…I have no doubt that you're wondering why I called you here, am I right?"

Hinata only nodded.

Entwining her hands together on top of the desk, Lady Tsunade leaned forward as if revealing a well-kept secret. "I've thought a lot about what you told me…" Seeing the confusion on the young girl's face, she clarified. "About wanting to help the villagers."

"Oh…" Hinata nodded again. "Yes, I would like that very much…if it's possible."

Tsunade shrugged. "Well, it's possible, and I have a little idea to run by you…to see what you think."

Seeing that Tsunade paused to look at her expectantly, Hinata nodded once again. "Alright."

Standing from her seat, the matriarch walked around her desk until she was leaning her back against the front of it, facing Hinata directly. "I guess I never took notice before of how in need the villagers are of proper care. Now, obviously, there are more in need of healing than I deemed imaginable, and it's terrible. Therefore, I pretty much took your idea and ran with it. Here's what I want to do," She paused again. "I've already talked to the village leader about this, and we're going to have something built, perhaps a pavilion, for you to work in."

Hinata didn't nod, didn't say anything. She could only stay quiet, for what she was hearing was more than she expected.

"Now," Tsunade looked at her reassuringly. "You can decide how often you want to do this. You can decide to do this every other day, every day, or even twice a week. As for the time of day, I thought the best time would be after lunch and before dinner. That way, you can still have your class with Kurenai and your training with Anko."

"Um," Hinata spoke up. "But, what about practice? With the harp? We usually do that after lunch and until dinner."

Tsunade waved it off. "We'll figure that out as we go. I just want to get the basics down right now. How's everything sound so far?"

Hinata smiled. "I like it."

"Good." Tsunade returned the smile. "Now, another thing. I'm not going to leave you there alone, obviously, which brings up a few other things. First of all, I'm going to have Shizune be with you, as well as train you specially."

"Train me?"

"That's right. What Anko is doing is great, but Shizune knows the human body, and I want you to learn from her to expand your power. For instance, when you heal, unless it's a visible outward wound, you usually just focus your energy into the area that hurts, right?"

After thinking about it for a minute, Hinata realized that she was right. "Yes…"

The matriarch nodded. "By doing that, you're wasting a lot of energy—energy that you could be saving for another patient. Shizune will help with that. She'll teach you where everything is in the human body, and how to detect the exact point that is in need of healing. Also, so you won't be overloaded with injured villagers, she'll be helping you out at the pavilion as much as you need her."

Hinata could only nod again before Tsunade started speaking once more.

"As for the second thing," She quickly glanced at Jiraiya. "Jiraiya and I have decided that we definitely want you and Shizune to be heavily protected. Neji will be there with you, of course, but I want others, too."

At that point, Lord Jiraiya took over. "We've thought over the candidates and settled on having a few of the security force there with you. There will be Kakashi, Sasuke, Kiba, and Shino. They won't be assisting or anything, but—like Neji—they will be protecting you should anything get out of control. We wouldn't want another repeat of what happened at the marketplace."

"Right," Hinata agreed.

Tsunade eyed her warily. "Are you okay with all of this? I know that it's a lot to take in at once, but—"

"It's fine." Hinata couldn't help but interrupt. "I'm actually very excited. And…if it's alright, I really wouldn't mind doing this everyday."

"Mmm…" Tsunade furrowed her brows. "If you'd like that, then so be it. We'll try it out, and if you're getting tired out too much, then we'll change it to every other day."

"Okay,"

"Everything else sound okay?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"I'll get the details sorted out, and get back to you later. We still have a few more days before the pavilion is up and ready to go. Until then, go about your usual day." She smiled.

Hinata couldn't stop smiling. "Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Lady Tsunade, Lord Jiraiya."

"You're welcome, Hinata."

Hinata smiled and thanked them again before leaving. As she walked back to the courtyard, she couldn't stop expressing just how eager she had become about her new prospects.

Hand clasped around her pendent, Hinata only wished that Itachi could see how well she was doing.

* * *

Despite that he couldn't see it, he felt it…every minute for the past four days. Her happiness seemed to overflow and flood his mind, making him wonder about the cause. Ignoring his curiosity, he was just relieved that she was experiencing a different emotion than the usual one of desperate sadness. At least now he could feel at ease…

Or not.

"Itachi," Kisame spoke as he entered the clearing where Itachi was meditating.

Not even lifting an eyelid, Itachi murmured. "You're back earlier than I expected."

Kisame snorted. "Once I got there and talked to the leader, he told me to get to you as soon as possible," He paused, seeing Itachi stand with his back still facing the shark demon.

Turning halfway toward Kisame, Itachi stared at him in disinterest. "So? How well did he receive my message?"

Glancing away for a slow second, Kisame muttered quietly, "Not too well. He seemed agitated, and I've never seen him agitated—annoying, yes—but not agitated."

Itachi understood what had apparently surprised Kisame in regards to the leader. He was one of the few demons who knew the leader's true colors, and he was slightly amused that he managed to let his guise falter in front of a demon that wasn't aware of those true colors. "Hmm…"

"He told me to tell you to come see him…immediately."

"Hm." The corner of Itachi's lips quirked upward into a small smirk. "I see. Well then, so be it."

* * *

Tsunade exited the temple, staring straight ahead at where the deities were training with Anko. She could see them spread out, a few of the girls with each other, doing whatever assignment Anko left them with. The strange woman herself was standing off to the side, analyzing the girls with a scrutinizing glance, occasionally barking out an order as to what they might have been doing wrong or how to improve their methods.

Tsunade smirked, knowing without a doubt in her mind how perfect Anko was for training those girls; especially since those girls were getting stronger by the day. She couldn't help wondering just how much stronger they would be in the next five years or so.

Shaking out of her momentary reverie, Tsunade glanced over the girls until her eyes stopped on Hinata, the one she came to speak with. "Hinata," She called loudly, catching everyone's attention around her.

Hinata stood and walked towards her, while the other girls merely stood, watched, and listened. Anko rolled her eyes, hating how often her training was interrupted.

Once Hinata was in front of her, Tsunade smiled. "I thought you would want an update about your soon-to-be occupation."

"Oh,"

"Everything's just about ready to go, so you'll be able to start the day after tomorrow. I've already had Neji informed, so you don't have to worry about letting him know. Alright?"

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you,"

"Not a problem. You can get back—"

"Lady Tsunade!" Temari ran forward, halting the matriarch from leaving so soon. Standing next to her younger friend, Temari slid one hand atop her hip as she prepped herself for the request she was going to make, hoping the matriarch would agree. "I've been thinking a lot about this whole thing with Hina." She spoke, recalling the few days before when Tsunade explained to the whole group about it. "I want to go, too."

Tsunade stared down at her admonishingly. "This isn't some trip into the market, Temari."

"I know that. But," She paused, giving Hinata a quick side-glance. "After what happened to Hina at the marketplace, I would really like to go."

"Temari, I understood your concern, but she will be heavily protected, so there's no need to worry."

Temari licked her lips, thinking how she could convince Tsunade. "I could help. I know that with my ability, there's not much I can do to help out the villagers, but I could be there in the pavilion with Hinata, helping her and Miss Shizune out with whatever they'd need of me."

"It'd be best if just stayed here, Temari. Hinata will be fine."

"I want to help, too." Sakura stepped forward, determination written on her face with clarity. "I know you heard about what Lee and I did at the marketplace, but I don't know if you heard all the details or not." She paused, seeing that Tsunade was impatiently listening. "There was these guys—carpenters—who had to carry these huge, long logs all the way back to their shop, with at least three or four men to every log. With Lee and I helping, the men were able to rest easier and get the job done quicker. If Hinata is going to help them, I don't see why I can't. My strength could help the village, Lady Tsunade."

"Sakura, it's like I just told Tem—"

"Hell, if Sakura's going, I'm going too!" Ino added. "I may not be able to use my ability or anything, but I can help out in the pavilion like Temari, too."

"Ino," Tsunade tried to speak, but was interrupted once again.

"I don't want to be the only one left behind, so I'm going as well." Tenten smiled, twirling a knife in-between her fingers. "I'm sure there's got to be a blacksmith or two somewhere in the village, and my ability would come in real handy there."

"Enough!" Tsunade interjected, glaring in disbelief at how their requests turned from uncertain questions into convinced demands. "It is well appreciated how much you all want to help, but…"

There was a long pause, causing Sakura to pipe up curiously. "But what, Lady Tsunade?"

The matriarch sighed deeply, lowering her head and shaking it. "How do you know that your guardians are going to agree to this? I have no doubt in my mind that you did not ask them at all."

Instead of the mulling disappointment that Tsunade expected, she only saw an identical contriving smirk cross over their faces, all except for Hinata, who was standing still in slight shock.

Ino laughed. "That'll be easy." Turning towards the group of boys, who were training with Jiraiya not too far away, she called out loudly. "Naruto! Naruto! Listen to me, stupid!"

"What?!" Naruto flipped around to face her, mimicking her angry expression. "Damn it, Ino, I'm training! Don't bother me!"

"I need to tell you something, so shut up and get over here, you idiot!"

Naruto's shoulders tensed, and he could feel his blood boiling in anger beneath his skin as he trudged over to her, mouth mumbling incoherent curses.

Tenten threw up her arm, waving down her guardian. "Kankuro! You, too! Come on!"

"Lee!" Sakura yelled over, merely using her hand as a form of communication, telling him to come over.

Gaara and Neji, the only ones left, spared at glance at each other in wonder.

Temari knew she wouldn't have to say anything for Gaara to come over. In under a second, he walked over to stand next to her, with Neji following to stand near Hinata.

As soon as Naruto had planted himself in front of his assigned deity, he gritted his teeth and forced words to come out in a seething manner. "What do you want?"

Ino appeared completely calm, if not a little condescending. She placed her hands on her hips and smirked slyly in a way that seemed to _dare _Naruto to make her angry. "Hinata's helping out in the village in a few days. We're gonna help, too."

His anger seemed to vanish, only to be replaced by confusion. "We are?"

"Yup."

He scratched the back of his head. "Doing what?"

Ino rolled her eyes. "Helping…duh."

Tsunade decided to take over briefly, directing her words toward the boys. "The rest of the girls here are asking if you all would like to help out in the village like they would."

"What," Kankuro spoke first. "And do the same thing that Hinata's doing in that giant tent thing?"

"No," Tsunade answered, her tone clipped. "You don't have to do what Hinata's doing in the _pavilion_. You're more than welcome to stay here if you wish."

"He doesn't." Tenten answered, smiling. "He wants to go."

"What?" Kankuro stared at her wide-eyed. "I didn't say that!"

"Sure you did." She laughed. "Don't worry, you can bring your dolls."

Irritation soared into him quicker than lightning. "I'm not going to tell you again about my _puppets_."

Ignoring them, Tsunade turned to Temari and Gaara. "How about it, Gaara?"

"Hn," He grunted, seeing the confusion on Tsunade's face, since she was clearly wondering what that was supposed to mean.

Temari offered a half-smile. "That's a yes."

"Ah," Her eyes shifted to Sakura and Lee. "Lee? Yes or no?"

"Oh, yes, Lady Tsunade! Anything to assist civilians and make my beautiful blossom happy!"

"Right…" Reluctantly, she turned to look at Ino and Naruto. "Well? Should I even ask?"

Ino was glaring at Naruto expectantly, and the blonde boy shrugged. "Sure."

"Fine then." The matriarch looked over to Jiraiya. "Looks like we have more scheduling and sorting to do."

"Great…" He murmured sarcastically.

Despite the reality of all that she would have to do soon, Tsunade ended up offering Hinata a wry smile. "See what you started?"

The girl in turn had to bite her lip to restrict her smiling, not noticing Neji's smirking face.

Tsunade sighed heavily, turning on her heel to leave. "Get back to work. You all will be very busy after the next few days."

* * *

It took a few days for Itachi to travel to the demon headquarters where the leader resided. The entrance to the headquarters was a giant opening into the side of a mountain, and inside the mountain was more like a demon city rather than what "headquarters" would usually be perceived as. Long before Itachi even existed, the place had been named Akatsuki, and the leader had always been the same.

Itachi had often wondered just how long the leader had been living, for if the legends were true, he was surely an ancient demon, a living myth.

According to the legends, the leader was at the forefront of both of the End Wars, leading his demon horde to attack and slaughter humankind. He was there when the goddess was visiting Konoha, when she became mortal, and he supposedly witnessed her death. Although, some legends have rumored that he was actually the one to kill her. Naturally a skeptic, Itachi refused to believe in any of the old stories. It wasn't fact to him unless he was there to see it with his own eyes.

He kept his face expressionless as he walked through the cave-like entrance, which had never once been guarded in all the centuries that it existed. A long, dimly lit tunnel awaited him, one that always appeared never-ending. A few twists and turns later, his feet carried him into a large opening, revealing hundreds of various demons that would either run, walk, or stand idle, glaring at the others passing by. Itachi ignored them all, and knowing him by sight and pure reputation, no demon stood in his path. That was the kind of fearful treatment that every favorite of the leader's received.

Itachi never cared.

His only objective was to get to the leader's quarters as soon as possible and get it over with so he could leave.

It was aggravating to know that it probably wasn't going to happen that way.

The walk to the leader's quarters was an excruciatingly long one, since he was positioned in the deepest recesses of the mountain, which ensured the greatest amount of protection…not that he needed it. After all, being leader wasn't just a title—it was a warning.

A long tunnel, like the one at the entrance, was all that led to the leader's lodgings. When it finally ended, a large wooden door took the place of the entrance, along with two demon guards positioned on either side. At that point, Itachi was forced to stop—though he did not speak. Then again, he didn't have to.

One of the guards addressed him. "I will let him know you are here." And then he disappeared behind the doors, only to reappear a few seconds later. No more words were spoken, even as the two guards opened the double doors to allow Itachi passage.

The Uchiha walked through, not paying attention to the doors closing firmly behind him. The room he had entered into was brightly lit by candles and lanterns, revealing how large it was and the few other doors positioned in it, opposite the entrance. Positioned farthest away from Itachi was an oversized throne chair, which had always seemed built out of the cave wall itself. In the middle of the room was a large, black marble table with documents littering it in an obviously unorganized manner.

Itachi's eyes did not fall on any of those things, however. Instead, Itachi stared indifferently at the demon that sat statuesque in the chair—the leader.

Upon Itachi's entrance, the leader stood immediately and clapped his hands together in an almost happy manner, his spiraled mask hiding his true expression. "Itachi! I almost thought you weren't coming. I was so worried!" His voice was loud and childish, and obnoxiously cheerful.

Itachi narrowed his eyes. "Cut the act, Madara. You know it only annoys me."

The atmosphere seemed to change in a matter of milliseconds as the leader's arms slowly descended down to his sides, hanging limply. When he spoke next, his head was slightly tilted and his voice regained a deeper and more menacing tone. "I am aware of that. But, you understand my pretenses, and since that is the case…" One gloved hand came up his face, fingers spread over his mask. "I'm sure you won't mind me putting away my disguise for now."

Itachi remained silent as he watched the aforementioned Madara remove his mask, placing it on one of the armrests of his chair. Before him was the longhaired, battle-ready leader of the demon race, eyes only slightly different from his own, but originating from the same bloodline. Madara Uchiha, Itachi's ancestor and supposed patriarch of the Uchiha bloodline…the last remaining full-blooded Uchiha besides himself.

It was always disgusting to remember that they were related, that Itachi shared the same blood as Madara's.

Truly abhorrent in the utmost form. Or, perhaps hatred would be a better term.

It didn't matter…not at that point, anyway.

"So, how have you been, Itachi?" Madara started, one corner of his lips twitching upwards in a sardonic smirk. "Well, I hope."

Itachi stayed silent, only staring at the leader emotionlessly.

"You see, I've been hearing different about you. I say different, but really…they're all saying the same thing—that you've been very distracted lately." He stepped closer, nearing the black marble table in the middle of the room. "Normally, I wouldn't be bothered by it. Despite how curious I am about what's distracting you, it's not interfering with your missions, and the job is still getting done, which is all that matters. However," He paused, resting one palm on the table, his red eyes staring at Itachi. "After hearing the message that you sent to me through Kisame…I am now starting to worry. The message you sent was threatening, and not many people have threatened me before." He laughed suddenly. "Of course, they're all dead, but you are a different matter. I don't want to kill you, and I suppose that I can understand your impatience for this all to be over, but I have my reasons, Itachi. Come, hear me out." Madara motioned him over to the table, where he began moving the majority of the documents into a metal bin off the side.

When Itachi reached the table, only one rolled document lay on the table, to which Madara rolled out a second later.

The document covered the table entirely, revealing a map of the land in its entirety, including towns and villages and territories. Most obviously seen was the demon territory, which stretched throughout the entire north. Over one area was littered with many X's, showing the different human towns and villages that the demons had conquered over time and recently. Below the swarm of X's, there was nothing except for the untouched residences of other humans and demon hunters.

There was one lonesome X that stood out, however. It was positioned close to Konoha, and Itachi knew without a doubt that the village that was destroyed there was the very one he destroyed himself years ago. It was the same place that he killed his father, yet let his young half-brother live. It was also what led to him meeting the current wearer of his blood-filled pendent.

Madara stole his attention away when he swept his hand over the swarm of X's. "This is all that we have conquered in four years." The X's were abruptly cut off near the exact half of the map, a true separation of North and South. "My goal has always been to conquer everything before the border of Konoha, Suna, and Ame, the three great allies. Seeing as they will be the hardest to conquer, why not save them for last."

"Why are you telling me this?" Itachi questioned, interrupting whatever speech Madara was going to make.

In turn, Madara paused to stare at Itachi with an empty facial cast. "You want this campaign to end, so I'm telling how it's going to be done. I'm not going to let you quit this, Itachi. I truly dislike having to _force_ my followers into doing something that I command. And you should know better than anyone else that when I force someone to do something, there's no disobeying it, no matter how much they try."

Itachi lifted his chin, appearing defiant, but knowing exactly what the leader meant. After all, Itachi had experienced it, and it was indeed a great power of Madara's. Itachi knew better than any other demon just how far advanced Madara's abilities were than his own. There was truly no arguing with the ancient demon, not without punishment or death. Remembering his priorities, Itachi forced himself to obtain a façade that would enable him to keep his priorities as they were. It would not be easy or short-lived, but it had to be done.

Madara smirked again when he noticed the submission of one of his favorite demons. "Good. Now that we understand each other, I have decided to get you involved directly with the strategizing. I will still send you out on missions, but for the most part, I would like you to remain here and assist me in coming up with various strategies to conquering this world." It was strange to hear the conquering of the world spoken in such a nonchalant tone.

"Fine." Itachi replied. "But I have no doubt that you already have a few strategies in mind."

"All I have in mind right now is what needs to be done to get where I want to be. As for that," Madara turned his eyes back to the map, sweeping his hand over the large area between the mass of X's and the border before Konoha. "This will need to be conquered and destroyed."

"Another four years, then."

"Ideally, yes. Unfortunately, there are at least four times as many villages in this area than in what we already conquered. That's what those idiotic humans get, though, for building villages so close to demon territory."

"How long would you estimate this next campaign to be?"

Madara was silent for a moment, before murmuring his answer. "Seven years, possibly eight, depending on our speed and stealth. Every precaution needs to be taken to make sure that none of the three allies are aware of what we have conquered. That is why I have issued the order to leave none alive."

That brought up another question that Itachi had been mulling over lately. "And sending two or three of us to a village, when it would only take one of us to destroy it. The point of that was what? To end it quicker?"

"Yes," Madara raised a brow. "That, and for those who haven't experienced war, and the actual synchronization of other demons involved, it is purely done to get them ready for the soon-to-be war against Konoha. Being attuned to the other demons during war is vital. That is one thing that the humans have managed to accomplish easily over demons."

Itachi gave him a side-glance before turning his silent attention back to the map. "And the lower demons…?"

"They will be trained in the way that they will be used. But, since you and the others are considered my elites, then you will be given a different training—the missions, in other words."

There was silence for a moment as Itachi grasped onto everything that the leader had just said. It was easy to understand his goals and tactics, but…. "When we reach that border before Konoha…then what? A direct attack?"

Madara merely looked at Itachi.

"If so, it would be a waste of energy, considering no demon knows how to infiltrate that barrier." _He _had crossed through that barrier unharmed, and he still had no idea how it happened, how the barrier worked. That was information not meant for the leader, however.

"I realize that. Once we have reached the border, you will be freed of my command, but only until the decisive attack on Konoha. After all, it will be during that time that I will spend all my time figuring out how to enter that village without fatalities. No one could possibly know how long that will take."

"And you will just wait down there, figuring it out, while the humans find you and plan their defensive attack?"

Madara's brows lowered in irritated anger. "Don't take me for a fool, Itachi. I have more experience in war than you can comprehend." His face suddenly cleared, revealing his more "pleasant" expression. "I will remain here until that attack will commence. As for the border, I will station at least one army of lower demons to secure it and keep the humans away."

"The humans have travelers and traders. They will notice and the three allies will be informed. Stationing a whole army of demons at the border will only attract attention, and destroy every _precaution _that you had pushed for."

Madara's lips curved into a slow smile and his eyes flashed. "And this is why I picked you to help me with the strategizing. Make yourself very comfortable here, Itachi. We will be working on this for awhile yet."

Taking that as the dismissal he had been waiting for, Itachi turned to leave.

He was starting to regret that he had lost his control over his temper and sent Kisame to the leader with his message.

As if he wasn't already trapped enough—it had suddenly become worse.

"Oh, Itachi, one more thing." Madara stopped him before he left the room. Lifting the similar blood diamond pendent from his neck, the leader raised his eyebrows in question. "I couldn't help but notice that you're not wearing yours."

Remaining calm and collected, Itachi answered quickly, eager to leave Madara's presence. "I seem to have misplaced mine."

Madara smirked, an unreadable emotion in his sinister eyes. "Well, that's not good. I hope you find it…when you're not too distracted, that is."

At that, Itachi turned and left, unnaturally hoping for the same as Madara—that he would no longer be so distracted.

Although, it would be imperative for him to keep track of Hinata, even if it was through her emotions. To him, that became a higher priority over Madara's new task and battle strategy, whether he wanted it to or not.

_Keep waiting, Hinata. Just a little longer._

_I will do the same._

* * *

**Excuse the language, but holy shit! This chapter took me forever to finish. It sucks when life decides to pop up once in awhile, driving me away from my writing. I'd like to say that it's over now, but every time I say that, something else decides to pop up.**

**Anyway, thank you all so much for the reviews and sticking with me over my temporary hiatus. It means a lot, seriously.**

**Also! There will be a time-skip for next chapter, and…you guessed it…it's the big one, the major one, the one you've all been waiting for. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait before finding out just how big of a time-skip it'll be (as if it wasn't already hinted at in this chapter). **

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'm sorry that it's not my best work, but I really fought to get this one out as soon as I could.**

**Sorry and thanks again!**

**See you all (hopefully) soon!**

* * *


	16. Abstraction

**Author Note: **Thanks for all the reviews!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Just_Passing: **I wasn't able to reply to your message, so I wanted to let you know that in regards to Itachi's age…Well, that will be revealed later. As for how old he looks, between 18 and 24 sounds about right. Sorry, but I will not release any spoilers…hopefully.

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XV**

**Abstraction**

* * *

"_The price of greatness is responsibility."_

_-Winston Churchill_

* * *

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and months into years. Time had passed, and every small occurrence created a ripple on the sea of life for those living it.

The world had changed gradually with inevitable destruction in the near future.

For the demons, their dreams, pursuits, missions, and goals were about to come to fruition.

For those in Konoha, life had remained nearly the same, even as each year passed and a new year began.

For the Divine Temple residents, days, weeks, months, and years continued on, mirroring its predecessor.

Despite that…much had changed, whether it be as momentous as the demon's impending war, or as sentimental as the new relationships that blossomed within the temple walls.

Either way, no creature was wiser to the destined future that lay ahead of them, requiring the presence of all those involved…

Especially the deities…

* * *

Not even a few weeks after the pavilion was being used and worked in, a new friendship had been born.

Kiba had only been twelve at the time and started his new position as one of the guards in the pavilion. He had grown used to saying pavilion, despite how much he desired to call it exactly what it looked like—a giant, white tent.

It was better than an actual building, though, he had to admit. The material of the pavilion was thin and would billow whenever a breeze would sweep by. With how hot it had been getting in Konoha, Kiba was glad that he was in a tent rather than a large building, where barely any air would come through.

It was still hot, though, and sweat would continue to bead on his forehead and near his ears. He didn't even want to look to see how much he was sweating elsewhere. Either way, the heat had always done a strange thing to Kiba's body; it made him hungry.

He had just eaten lunch a few hours before, but was familiar with the heat enough to know to always bring a snack while he was on duty, hoping that Kakashi or Asuma wouldn't catch him. Although, they let Choji snack all the time. What would be the big deal if he did, too? It was only while it was hot, just for the summer.

It was because of the snacks that Kiba managed to grab the attention and pleading of a creature much smaller than him. The small, white puppy had found its way into the pavilion, searching and sniffing for the food.

Shizune spotted the puppy first and shrieked in annoyance. "Get that mutt out of here! This is no place for a dog!"

Hinata had piped in at that moment, making it a miracle if anyone managed to hear her. "Unless it's injured, of course!"

No, it wasn't injured…just starving.

"Kiba," Kakashi called over to him, already having the pup in his arms. "Why don't you take him outside and make sure that he doesn't come back through here."

"Yes, sir." Taking the puppy into his arms, Kiba removed a flap of the pavilion away in order to stand out behind the back of the large tent.

The puppy didn't squirm or struggle in his arms, but it did whine continuously, even when Kiba finally put the puppy back onto the ground.

Kneeling down until his legs were bent over his heels, Kiba rested his arms on his knees and watched the white puppy in curiosity. The ribs that were showing through its skin was an obvious indicator of how often it ate, and the only thing it seemed to have strength to do was walk (or trudge) and whine.

Kiba would've liked to think that he wasn't sympathetic and couldn't be won over by a simple show of puppy eyes. But, there was no one around to see him taking pity on the dog, so it was all right.

Digging into his pocket, Kiba pulled out the last few sausages he had left, which were wrapped securely in a thick warming cloth. The puppy began to pant immediately upon smelling the delectable scent. Kiba watched in satisfaction as he laid the sausages in front of the puppy, which began to scarf the food down at once.

Kiba chuckled.

When the puppy had finished, it ran its tongue over its mouth, while looking at the dark-haired boy expectantly.

Kiba shrugged. "Sorry, buddy, that's all I got. Wait, you are a buddy, right?" Kiba leaned over to lift up one of its hind legs searchingly, only to back away with a grin of approval. "Boy dogs are way cooler than girl dogs, huh?" Kiba laughed again as he ran his hand over the puppy's fur. He stood up quickly, stretching his back. "Okay, you better get going." He pointed to somewhere away from the pavilion. "You can't come back here, okay? If they catch you, it'll be _me _getting in trouble next time." Offering him one more scratch behind the ears, Kiba turned to head back into the pavilion. "Bye, pup. Go find a nice person to feed and take care of you."

--

In the puppy's mind, he did, which was proven when the pavilion was closing for the night and the masters, guardians, deities, and security force boys were heading back to the temple for dinner.

It was Kiba and Shino's turn to stay behind to ensure the pavilion was blocked off appropriately with two of the village leader's guards taking the night shift. Once that was certain, the two boys were to begin their trek back to the temple with Shino always way ahead of Kiba.

It worked out for the best in Kiba's opinion, since he encountered the stray puppy from earlier.

Apparently, he had waited until Kiba left the pavilion before following him like the lost puppy he was.

With Kiba's enhanced hearing (due to intense daily training), he knew that something was following him, and only figured out what it was when he turned around to see the white puppy not a few feet from him.

With his hands stuffed in his pockets, Kiba stared at the puppy blankly. "I thought I told you to get out of here and go find an owner to take care of you, or something."

The puppy only barked and inched forward, head slightly bowed.

"I told you, I don't have anymore food on me. Go find it somewhere else." He turned his back to the puppy and began walking again, only to soon realize that the puppy was still following him.

Kiba stopped again, and turned around to look at the puppy, which had stopped to stare at him in return.

With a sigh, Kiba knelt down and held his hand out, palm facing upward in a beckoning motion. The puppy skipped forward until it was sniffing Kiba's hand and began licking it.

Kiba offered him a half-smile in resignation. "I hope you know that you're going to get me in a lot of trouble for this."

Nobody had noticed the unusual lump hiding in Kiba's jacket when he arrived back at the temple.

Nobody had noticed the presence of the puppy for awhile.

That is, nobody except two people besides Kiba himself.

Shino was the first to catch onto Kiba's canine secret. He had noticed by the way of how Kiba had become restless during meal times, how distracted he was during training and working at the pavilion. During breaks, Kiba would disappear into his room until the next mealtime or training. His most peculiar behavior was during those meal times, though. For as long as Shino knew him, Kiba had always eaten everything on his plate, not even leaving behind a crumb. Now, he was only eating at least half and taking the rest of the food with him back to his room, as well as taking more than enough snacks from the kitchen.

Kiba's recent behavior was peculiar indeed, which only aroused Shino's suspicion. It was when Shino sought out Kiba in his room that the bug-lover discovered the origin of Kiba's restless distraction, and it was a surprising find.

Kiba had been hiding a puppy, and it was the same puppy that ran into the pavilion about a week prior.

Needless to say, Kiba panicked upon seeing Shino at his bedroom door, staring at the puppy with hidden serious eyes.

"Promise you won't tell anyone, Shino! If anyone found out about this, especially Lady Tsunade or Lord Jiraiya, I'd—"

"It is not my place to tell anyone about your activities, Kiba. However, if that mutt—"

"Don't call him a mutt!"

"Causes any problems, then I will have no choice but to tell the patriarch and matriarch."

If it weren't for the fact that Kiba knew Shino for years, he would've started panicking by then. Luckily, he knew Shino enough to know that what he said was his way of ensuring Kiba that his secret would remain a secret.

Shino would not tell.

His canine secret was safe.

Or, at least, he thought so until one day in the middle of the night when Kiba had to take his puppy out for his midnight relieving.

Out of nowhere, a gasp was heard, and Kiba tensed as he searched for the origin of the sound.

Standing not too far from him, and nearly hidden by shadows, stood Hinata with her hand held up around her mouth. What she had been doing out in the courtyard at that time of night and by herself, he didn't know…but she was there, and she saw his puppy, at once recognizing it as the one from the pavilion.

"H-Hinata, I, uh…"

Hinata smiled warmly and walked toward the puppy, which came to her in search of the affection that she offered.

Kiba could only watch dumbstruck as the dark-haired girl giggled as she played with the puppy. "It's so cute! Is it a boy or a girl?"

"Uh…boy."

Hinata's smile widened as she petted the puppy lovingly. "You're a handsome puppy, aren't you?" She cooed to it.

"Hinata, look," Kiba approached her hesitantly. "Nobody knows about this, okay? Well, Shino does, and now you do, but…nobody else can know, okay? I'll get in so much trouble."

"Okay," Hinata agreed instantly. "But…on one condition," She was still smiling, despite how Kiba's expression changed to more panic.

"W-What…?"

"You'll let me play with him…when Neji's not around, of course…?"

Kiba's shoulders sunk in relief and an easy smile lit his face. "Yeah, okay…that's fine."

Kiba continued to watch her play with his puppy with that ever-present smile on her face. It was when that smile began to fade that he started to worry.

"Um, Kiba?"

"Yeah?"

"You're going to have to tell Lady Tsunade sometime…or she might find out on her own…"

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah…that's what Shino keeps telling me, but once I do…she won't let me keep him."

Hinata's expression lit up hopefully. "She might…He's a good puppy, and he seems well trained so far."

"Heh, thanks." Kiba's temporary smile faded quickly. "I just haven't found the right time yet."

"If you want, I can go with you. And I bet Shino would, too, if you asked him."

"Yeah, I don't know…"

"Mmm," Hinata let the subject drop, and offered him a new question instead. "What's his name?"

"Huh?"

"The puppy…Did you name him yet?"

"Well, I've thought of a few different ones, but the one I like the best is Akamaru."

"Akamaru…Doesn't that mean—"

"Red, yeah, I know. But I like the sound of it, and I think he likes it, too."

Hinata smiled again. "Akamaru, then." She giggled. "I think it suites him just fine."

--

A few weeks later, Kiba finally mustered up the courage to tell the matriarch and patriarch about his canine friend. Just like Hinata offered, she and Shino went along as well, bringing the puppy in, too.

While Jiraiya didn't seem to mind, it was a hard time convincing Tsunade to let the dog stay.

Through a series of sighs and forehead massages, Tsunade finally agreed, but on a few conditions that had to be obeyed. Firstly, a section of the temple yard would be reserved for Akamaru's usage, but would have to be cleaned by Kiba once a week. Secondly, food would be provided easily, but it was solely Kiba's responsibility to make sure that his dog was well fed and watered. Lastly, when the dog was inside the temple, Kiba had to keep an eye on him so that nothing would get destroyed and there would be no left-behind surprises for others to step in.

To all of it, Kiba readily agreed with an excited smile on his face.

The adoption of Akamaru was official, and Kiba had gained a best friend.

* * *

Over the duration of six years, it wasn't just friendships that had changed; it was the relationship between guardian and deity as well. Some had become romantic, while others had simply become closer.

Surprisingly, when Sakura was fifteen, it was made known by Lee that their relationship had "blossomed into a pure love", to which Sakura could only shake her head and smile in her own form of agreement.

Everyone was astounded at the news, but Naruto and Ino took it in the worst way.

Ino felt that she had lost the attention of her best friend, as well as the rivalry for Sasuke's heart, which didn't exist anymore once Sakura had found a loving partner in her guardian.

Naruto had been hurt tremendously. He was jealous of his friend Lee, as well as depressed by the fact that he lost his chance to vie for Sakura's attention. He continually tried to tell himself to be happy that Lee found someone who loved him in a way that he had never experienced, and most of all, that Lee's affection for Sakura had been finally returned. As a friend, Naruto had much to be happy about. As a rival for Sakura's love, he had much to be sorrowful about.

In a time of desperate loneliness, Ino and Naruto had unconsciously started to comfort each other, and in turn, became closer. They still argued and fought relentlessly, but there was a soft understanding there, and a type of love for each other that many others could see clearly. Without realizing it, their relationship, too, had become much more than they expected. They wouldn't announce it to the whole temple, but they were indeed a couple. Around others, it seemed like they hated each other, but when they were alone, it was like they were the only two people in the entire world…and they were undeniably happy.

That, of course, didn't occur until both were already sixteen years of age.

One deity and guardian that became a couple was an obvious one, which had no need to announce to everyone for them to see it. Tenten and Kankuro had been close friends, teasing each other in public and understanding each other when no one else was around. With all the time they spent together in each other's company, it was no surprise that their relationship, like Sakura's and Ino's, had evolved into something more than friendship.

It had happened gradually and without surprises or any rush. They had taken their time, gotten to know each other, became friends, and then finally realized their true feelings toward one another. They weren't as "lovey-dovey" as Sakura and Lee tended to be, or even Ino and Naruto when they were alone, but there was no doubt in everyone's minds that they were truly meant for each other in every way. To most, Tenten and Kankuro shared such a "normal" relationship, something so very simple…and something so very unlike what Temari had.

Temari and Gaara had grown closer as siblings over the years. With being around each other as much as they were, their behaviors changed both drastically and minimally. Through Gaara, Temari had learned to calm down when it came to her overprotective nature. With her brother's help, it became easier to trust a close friend like Hinata to take care of herself, so that she didn't always have to be watched and protected. She even went so far as to learn how to trust Neji as well when it came to playing his role as Hinata's guardian. Temari knew Neji's feelings for Hinata, which helped her to also know that the dark-haired boy would never let any harm come to the girl. Thus, the older blonde was no longer tense with her protective tendencies, but calm with the knowledge that those close to her would be all right; they would be taken care of, for it wasn't her job to constantly ensure their safety.

Through Temari, Gaara had learned new behaviors as well, though not as drastic or obvious. While his expression showed nothing of this, inwardly, he had changed and gained a new perspective. The young redhead had always had trouble when it came to controlling the demonic part of himself. So over the years, Temari worked with him to develop certain strategies so as to put him in more control of himself.

Not only that, but he had begun to allow others to become closer to him and befriend him in ways that they were too hesitant about doing before. Over six years, he could honestly say that he felt more at ease and more confident in controlling his abilities.

Both of the siblings had become closer in trust and understanding, which led to Temari being more tolerable of the other goings on in her life.

For instance, the teasing that went on between Temari and Shikamaru had remained constant, but not without some conjecture on everyone else's part. Many of them suspected a deeper relationship between the two that they weren't making public. "Something is definitely going on between those two."

"Seriously, have you seen the way they look at each other?"

"Why won't they just admit it and get it over with?"

"Or, they could just be really good friends…"

"Yeah…right, Hinata…just friends."

As far as Tenten, Ino, and Sakura were concerned, Temari and Shikamaru were just in a state of denial, too shy to let their "true relationship" out in the open.

Despite their remarks, Temari was good at telling them to back off and stop spouting stupid fantasies. "Honestly, just because they're all in relationships, they think it's their job to match everyone else up. It's annoying."

When Temari had turned twenty-one, she came to the conclusion to forget them and their suspicions, since it just wasn't worth it to get angry over.

It was a whole different matter when it came to Neji and Hinata, though. Theirs was slightly more complicated with an added dash of confusion.

Neji had become impatiently frustrated throughout the whole ordeal, though he would not let Hinata notice that. He had dignity, after all.

Apparently, dignity wasn't something that Naruto was familiar with when it came to love. He had been the only one to confront Neji on the issue.

"Why don't you just tell her you love her? She's the only one here who has no idea about it."

"Shut up, Naruto."

"I mean, honestly, I was the first one to say 'I love you' when it came to me and Ino. Then again, Ino was really stubborn, and maybe Hinata's not like that. But, whatever. She probably hasn't caught on to any of the hints. Wait…you have been dropping hints, right?"

"Mind your own fucking business."

"Geez, Neji…harsh much?" Naruto laughed.

The truth about the relationship between them was simply that Hinata only viewed him as a friend—a very best friend in her words. He _had _dropped hints, major ones…ever since they were kids, but Hinata was too innocently naïve to even think that her guardian could possibly have feelings for her.

Yes, Neji was very frustrated.

He couldn't believe that the one time and the one girl he fell in love with just had to be one who wouldn't have the slightest clue about his real feelings.

And it wasn't like Neji hadn't already thought about letting her know his intentions, but one thought had always brought him to an immediate halt—her reaction.

So many images and different reactions and possibilities had flooded his mind every time he so much as considered letting her know his secret.

She might be scared or frightened…

She could faint and then he'd have to tell her all over again…

And then there was pure rejection.

The simple "no"…

Possibly a rejection full of disgust and loathing. Way to ruin the friendship, Neji.

It was all these things that helped him to keep his mouth shut on various occasions. Despite how much he desperately wanted Hinata to know, he couldn't risk the deterioration of their friendship…should it happen.

He would rather she never know about his love for her than risk the chance of never being as close to her again.

At the age of nineteen, he learned to be satisfied with the relationship they had…satisfied that he could be close to her…to comfort her, to make her smile and giggle, to support her decisions, and to distract her away from hidden, troubling thoughts.

It was enough just being able to be near her…silently offering himself to her…wishing that just once she would see him and his desires and smile, eventually murmuring that she loved him as well.

That triggered a cynical laugh filled with disgrace at what he had allowed himself to become.

"I'm slowly turning into Lee…"

Hidden in the dark abyss of his bedroom…

Head buried in his hands…

Neji laughed without humor.

* * *

Although having the deities, guardians, and security force working either in the pavilion or the village center, Tsunade had not restricted them to just those activities. As they aged and matured and became stronger, she tested them in various ways—ways that helped the village.

After a long, grueling debate between her and the village leader, it was finally settled that they could occasionally leave the village to go on certain missions, which would serve the people. Whether it was something as simple as scouring the nearest vegetation for herbs and other required plants, or travelling to Suna or Ame to gather supplies that Konoha no longer had, the young adults were the ones to carry it out.

In the process, they had become experienced with the world outside their walled-in community, as well as stronger for having completed each mission successfully. That had been Tsunade's intention.

However, Lord Sarutobi had insisted that none of them go alone or even in pairs. For their own safety, he recommended that they go in groups of four. An experienced master or caretaker was obliged to go, along with one of the security force boys, and, of course, the guardian and deity.

Both Jiraiya and Tsunade agreed and soon prepared to divide up the groups based on past experiences like the marketplace incident.

Five groups were thus formed. Group one was led by Gai, followed by Choji, Sakura, and Lee. Anko led group two with Ino, Naruto, and Shino (much to both the blondes' displeasure). Asuma became leader of group three, containing Shikamaru, Temari, and Gaara. In group four was the indifferent Kakashi, who completed missions alongside Sasuke, Neji, and Hinata. Lastly, Kurenai led group five with Kiba, Tenten, and Kankuro.

The matriarch couldn't help but pride herself at her ingenious setup. Surely, they would all get along just fine and without complaint. Not to mention, they'd be safer. After all, they weren't permitted to go deep into the forests outside Konoha. Ame, which laid to the southwest of Konoha, and Suna in the deep south were the only places they were allowed to traverse distantly. The village couldn't risk anything happening to their precious deities.

Overall, much had changed in six years. The youngest one there was barely eighteen and already working diligently healing as many villagers as her stamina and energy would permit.

So, much had changed for the better.

Of course it had…right?

All was well in the minds of the ignorant.

* * *

**_Present Time_**

Medium-length light-colored hair swayed with every quick footstep he made against the tile of the hallway. Tresses of his hair passed over his emerald eyes, but failed to impair his sight of what lay ahead of him, his destination.

When he finally approached the large double doors leading to the leader's quarters, twenty-six-year-old Yukio opened them swiftly, allowing them to swing shut behind him. When he entered, his striking eyes fixed on the small amount of people in the room, all of them surrounding a hazard looking elder.

The elder in question lifted his wrinkled brow and slowly smiled tiredly. "Yukio, my boy."

"Lord Sarutobi," Yukio bowed respectfully, though his face formed no expression, except for his slightly furrowed brow. "Is everything alright?"

"Of course, of course." The leader mumbled hoarsely with a ragged voice, aged by time. "I have called a short meeting."

Yukio glanced around at those present, taking notice of the scribe, two of the highest generals in the Konoha army, and a few other high officials that managed the financial and economical standings of their village. As the village leader's head advisor, Yukio came to the conclusion that this meeting seemed to be reserved for only the higher-ups, which meant that whatever business was to be done was of great importance. Unsurprisingly, Yukio knew that he was the youngest there, and the envied favorite of the leader himself. "My lord, may I ask the purpose of this abrupt meeting?"

Sarutobi coughed harshly into his hand before forcing himself to sit up right, admonishing those who attempted to assist him. "I may be old, but I am not incapable. Your assistance is not needed, thank you. Now," He paused, lacing his hands together on the desk before him. "To answer your question, Yukio, we are here to finalize a document which I have been avoiding as of late." He cleared his throat. "I am no fool; I know I am close to dying, and shouldn't be putting off such things like I did in my younger years."

"Is this concerning your last orders and wishes as leader?" Yukio murmured in disbelief, realizing that despite how much he ignored it, the fact remained that his beloved master and leader was not going to be around much longer.

The leader's dull-colored eyes remained steadfast on his son-like advisor. "Yes, Yukio. Now, why don't you all take a seat so we can discuss this properly. Scribe, what is left to be addressed?"

"Just a few things, my Lord, but we have yet to discuss the most important decision."

"Ah," Sarutobi smiled wryly. "You mean to tell me that I have yet to name my successor. Is that it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Rightly so, I have thought much about this. If you had asked me twenty years ago, I would've given you two candidates, but I can no longer consider them now."

One of the generals spoke up curiously. "Who do you mean, my lord?"

Sarutobi coughed again. "Tsunade and Jiraiya, of course."

The same general's eyes widened. "And you are not considering them anymore? How can that be? My lord, either one of them would've been an excellent choice for village leader."

"Yes," Sarutobi replied calmly. "Tsunade, especially. She knows this village probably better than I."

"And you will not choose her?"

"Not anymore, no."

"Sir, I don't understand. Why not?"

The leader straightened and cleared his throat again. "Because I could not do that to either of them. They both have been managing that temple for years, and it has become their home. Neither of them would choose being the village leader over being the matriarch or patriarch of the Divine Temple. Do not question me on this, general. It has already been decided."

The general clenched his jaw and nodded respectfully. "Yes, Lord Sarutobi. I apologize."

Sarutobi merely waved it away before staring intensely at Yukio. "Do you agree with that, Yukio?"

The young man stayed silent for a moment as if mulling it over before replying. "I have not met Lady Tsunade or Lord Jiraiya, but I know that my lord knows them better than anyone. I will not contradict you on your decision, despite how I would agree with General Hamada that either one would be an ideal choice for village leader."

The leader nodded in satisfaction.

Yukio continued, "Deciding who will lead the village is a delicate matter—always has been and always will be. If anything, a criteria should be made and followed before a choice in leader is decided."

"I agree. So, what criteria would you suggest, my boy?"

Inhaling and exhaling deeply, Yukio leaned back into his chair with his arms crossed over his chest. Once again, he was silent for a moment before speaking slowly and hesitantly, glancing around for agreement. "The criteria for a village leader could be…that one must know the people of this village…what they need and want…the best way to protect them. He or she should be a trusted person amongst those around him or her…Someone who the villagers can easily respect and rely on." The corner of his mouth quirked upward. "Wisdom would be a plus, I'd imagine."

Sarutobi chuckled. "That it would, Yukio."

General Hamada spoke up again. "What about experience? Surely, that would be wanted in a leader. Especially, experience in war matters."

One of the high officials added, "The village leader should also know how a village is to be run. He should have experience and knowledge in concerns of the village's financial situation, its imports and exports, trade…and most of all, how to keep up the alliances we have with other villages. That is absolutely crucial."

Sarutobi linked his hands together. "I would not agree with that entirely. General, it is a good thing for the leader to have experience in battle should war ever arise again, but it is not an absolute necessity. However, I would insist that the leader be able to strategize and confidently lead the village army into battle, whether this be by word or action.

"Secondly," the leader stared at the high officials. "My friends, while having experience in the village finances and economics would be beneficial, it is not crucial. I am knowledgeable of the village's standing in such things, but I am not an expert in it, nor do I have as much experience in it as either of you. What I have spoken and agreed with is all that I ask and look for in a village leader. After being chosen as leader, one can still learn and build experience in such things."

Yukio leaned back in disbelief that he had not noticed it before. He had been working with the leader for years, seeing the elder like a father or grandfather. Yukio felt that he knew Lord Sarutobi fairly well—well enough to be able to know when he was just testing his higher-ups. Gulping, Yukio stood. "My lord…You've already made your decision, haven't you?"

A slow smile worked its way with the lord's mouth. "I have."

"Please, Lord Sarutobi," The scribe interjected. "Name your successor and we shall put it to a vote."

Sarutobi chuckled. "Need I do such a thing when he is already standing before you all."

All eyes suddenly turned to whom the leader was motioning towards.

Yukio felt his heart skip a beat when it finally absorbed into him that everyone was looking at him, signifying that Lord Sarutobi had named him—Yukio—as his successor. Perhaps disbelief would've been too light a word to describe Yukio's current feelings.

The two generals and two high officials were equally dumbfounded. The first to say or do anything was the same high official who had spoken earlier, and he released a short laugh. "My lord, you can't be serious." All he gained in return from the leader was a simple raised brow. The official shook his head, turning his stare to every other person in the room as if expecting them to share his astonishment. "Look, I agree that Yukio would make a great leader—I speak for everyone here when I say that we have always known this, but he is too young! I mean no offense to Yukio, but…" His gaze settled on Yukio, the official's brows pulled together in sympathy. "He is not…capable nor ready to lead this village…not yet, anyway."

"Keiji," Sarutobi addressed the flabbergasted high official. "You speak as though I am going to die within the next few days."

"With all due respect, sir, that is not a fact. None of us, not even you, my lord, have any idea as to the day when you will leave us. As for now, as for the present, Yukio is too young to be leader."

"My memory has served me well after all these years, so I am not mistaken when I say that I was a few years his junior when I became leader—"

"Lord Sarutobi, times were very different then—"

"And," The leader raised his voice sternly. "I was nowhere near being as knowledgeable or experienced as that young man is in regards to this village. What took me years to understand, he has become an expert at in a matter of months. Young though he may be, there is no age limit to be in the making of an excellent village leader."

"I don't disagree, sir, but—"

"Allow me to finish and clarify before I have to listen to anymore biased opinions." Sarutobi interrupted, but continued to speak calmly, yet with clear authority. "Keiji, you should know that I have always listened to and respected your opinions, but I am absolutely sure about this, and I need you all to trust my decision." A harsh cough emitted from the leader, before he began again in his coarse voice. "Yukio, I realize that you are unprepared for this responsibility and uncertain if you can shoulder it. Believe me when I say that no one is more aware of their fateful demise as I am currently, though I will not be dead anytime soon."

His statement was then directed to everyone in the room. "So long as there is life in this old body of mine, I will ensure that Yukio is prepared to be village leader, but I will ask for all your help in doing this. Are you all in agreement that Yukio has the capabilities of being an excellent leader if trained over time?"

Each of them nodded their honest assent.

"If all of you vote to agree with my decision, then I will leave it up to each of you to tutor and train him to be the leader that the village needs him to be. Until I am gone, I would ask that all of you, and myself included, to assist him in knowing all there is to know about being this village's leader." Sarutobi then nodded to the scribe.

In turn, the scribe straightened and gathered their attention. "Before we begin the vote, are there any questions. If not, then we will commence."

Each of the generals and officials looked at each other as if speaking telepathically. Finally, three of them nodded towards the other high official who had remained silent for the duration of the meeting. He was much older than the others, but still younger than the leader, and after clearing his throat, he emitted a deep baritone type of voice. "My lord, you will agree to let us tutor and train this boy so as to prepare him to be the leader we all know him capable of being?"

"Yes, Seiko."

"And if you are to pass earlier than any of us could expect?"

"Yukio will be named leader, but I hope that you all will still be there to help and assist him with whatever he needs and doesn't understand."

"Understood, my lord. We have no further questions."

The scribe repeated, "There are no other questions?" to which the others simply shook their heads. "Very well. With your permission, my lord, I will begin the vote."

Sarutobi nodded.

The Scribe seated himself closer to his parchment and writing utensil. "Now, seeing as the head advisor is the nominated successor, he will not vote, which leaves the total amount of votes at four. Majority wins, and should there be a tie, Lord Sarutobi will make the final decision. Those in favor of Yukio being Lord Sarutobi's successor, please stand."

The two generals stood first and General Hamada turned to Yukio before speaking. "I knew your parents quite well, and they were both admirable warriors. I see many of their qualities in you, and if you are indeed as quick a learner as my lord says you are, then I will trust his decision."

Yukio nodded, still shaken from the present events. "Thank you."

The two high officials stood next with Keiji speaking instead of Seiko. "We vote in favor of Yukio being the successor. In respect to you, my lord, we promise to prepare him for leadership, so it will become almost easy for Yukio to shoulder this immense responsibility." He smirked. "We will make you the village expert."

The scribe then stood. "It is decided. Yukio, son of General Katsutoshi, is named as successor to Lord Sarutobi, leader of Konoha. Each of you will need to sign here for this order to become official and permanent."

Each of them signed with Yukio and the leader signing last. It wasn't until the others had left, leaving Lord Sarutobi and Yukio alone, that the leader addressed his "adopted son". "I apologize for not warning you about this prior to the meeting, but I had to be sure."

Yukio nodded before seating himself opposite his leader.

"What do you think?"

The green-eyed boy could only shake his head and stare silently before words finally formed on his lips. "I am honored that you chose me, but I am also uncertain."

"About?"

"If I am really as capable as you all say of me being leader."

Sarutobi laughed. "Not to worry. Your confidence will grow quicker than you can imagine, especially since you will be learning from those two officials and those other two hard-asses that I refer to as my best generals."

It was silent for a quick moment before the leader slowly began to stand, alerting the worried Yukio. "Stay seated, boy. I don't need help." Once Sarutobi was standing, he reached for his wooden cane. "Now, onto the next order of business. Would you be so kind as to clear your schedule for tomorrow? You will be spending the entire day with me, and we will make a journey over to the Divine Temple, so that you can start to become familiar with Konoha's powerhouse, and those who make it so powerful."

"The deities?"

"Yes, as well as other temple residents." He cleared his throat. "Now stand up and offer this old man an escort in case he should be so clumsy as to fall."

* * *

The following morning, Yukio and Lord Sarutobi arrived at the temple, and not without the young man worrying about the state of his elder. "We should've used transportation."

Sarutobi huffed. "This is transportation."

"One in which you wouldn't have to walk, my lord."

"Nonsense. I'm younger than I look."

Yukio merely cracked a smile before pounding his fist against the large temple doors. Not even a minute passed before one door opened, revealing the well-endowed Tsunade.

"Lord Sarutobi," She extended a hand to assist him inside, not even looking for when the servants closed the door behind the two visitors. Finally, she realized how out of breath the old man was, and how he was wheezing continually. "I can't believe you even thought about walking all the way here. Take a seat." She led him to a nearby sofa, watching as he sat and leaned back in visible exhaustion. "You," she called to one of the servants. "Bring some water, and be quick."

Yukio could only stand off to the side and watch as the matriarch, who he had yet to meet, take care of the village leader as if they were old friends. Perhaps not, he wavered. After all, he had been informed years ago that the patriarch and matriarch were previous students to the leader, which explained their seemingly close relationship.

"Stop fussing over me, Tsunade." Sarutobi spoke hoarsely, waving her away with a hand.

Tsunade stood back, standing straight, hands planted on her hips. "Despite what you may think, Lord Sarutobi, you are indeed older now. Perhaps it's time you start focusing on your health and the wonderful conveniences of old age."

"Nonsense. Who do you take me for—a decrepit old man? I'm very capable and in complete control of my faculties. My stamina is just not what it used to be." He paused and continued before Tsunade could get in another word. "Enough of this ranting. You received my message, I trust."

"Yes, I did. Last night. I understand that you have named a successor." That's when she turned from the leader to stare at the young man standing to the side of them. He was a fairly tall, green-eyed young adult, who couldn't have been close to thirty years. Stepping closer to him, she extended her hand. "I'm assuming you're him."

"Yes, ma'am." He shook her hand firmly, and introduced himself when their hands parted. "I am Yukio, son of General Katsutoshi."

"And the future leader of this village." Tsunade finished with the barest hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Master Sarutobi speaks highly of you…like a son. If he trusts you, then there is no reason why this temple wouldn't. Therefore, it would be best to get you well acquainted with this place and its residents. I'll be the one to take you on a tour."

Yukio nodded. "Thank you, Lady Tsunade."

"Of course." She stopped when a few servants reappeared with one holding a glass of water. The glass was immediately delivered to the lord, while the servants waited patiently for new orders. Tsunade didn't hesitate to give them any. "Escort Lord Sarutobi to the dining room or wherever it is he wishes to go. Make sure he is comfortable and waited on properly."

They murmured a chorus of "yes, ma'am" before complying to her wishes.

"Rest and relax, my lord." Tsunade spoke to the leader, who was being assisted to standing up. "When I am done with giving young Yukio the tour, he will be an expert at the goings on of this place."

He nodded, while they passed a meaningful look between them. Inwardly, Sarutobi hoped that the matriarch would abide by his wishes in the message. Those wishes being that she would keep the fact that there were half-demons residing at the temple a secret. He had to briefly explain that it would not benefit Yukio to know such a thing, especially when his parents were killed by a demon, and the young man swore hatred to anything with demon blood. It would be in everyone's best interest that the future village leader never find out about those with demon blood residing in the walls of Konoha.

Tsunade didn't press for more information—she only understood and obeyed what was previously requested of her. After a meeting with the other adults, she made sure that all knew about the secret that they were to keep from this green-eyed young man. Everything else besides that, Tsunade was to make known to Yukio. Sarutobi had also requested that he be made privy to mostly all that went on at the temple—the deities and guardians especially.

After all, the Divine Temple was indeed the powerhouse of Konoha, a massive and secret weapon in Yukio's eyes.

After Sarutobi had been escorted away, Tsunade began the tour by first explaining to him the architecture of the temple before going into detail about the use of each of the rooms. She showed him the library, meeting rooms, her office, and the medical ward, where he met Shizune.

Afterwards, he was shown the music room, where the deities' instruments were placed in various areas of the room. The classroom came next, which showed to be just as empty as the music room. Yukio couldn't help but inwardly wonder where everybody was. He had seen servants around and met Shizune, the head of the medical ward, but that was about it.

Tsunade finally led him to a door, which she put her hand against, but paused before pushing it open. "It's almost lunch time and nearly everyone is outside training at the moment." She pushed the door aside and led him into a familiar grassy terrain. "This is the courtyard. It's a very large area, which is extremely nice for having so many young men and women running around. Of course, they're still kids to me."

Yukio nodded quietly. "It seems that you keep them on a fairly tight schedule."

She shrugged. "I'd say so. They have their studies and their training, and the deities have their hobbies, meaning the music. But, they also are allowed time to themselves; they have the freedom to do what they want outside of training and studies. This way, now."

He followed her, seeing nothing except the courtyard and the Konoha wall on one side. Finally, they came into view of a group of boys, broken into pairs and being supervised by three men. Tsunade explained, "These are the boys who are training to be in the security force."

Yukio's brows raised in recognition. "Ah, Lord Sarutobi informed me of this. The security force basically monitors the temple and its surroundings—an all-day protecting guard, right?"

"Exactly. You will meet the deities and their guardians soon, but the security force, you will come to understand, provide back-up to the guardians for the most part. When the guardians need it, the security force is there to give it." She paused and put two fingers to her lips, forming the position for a loud whistle, which indeed drew the attention of the group ahead of them. "Call it a day and come over here! There's someone you all need to meet!"

Without so much as a nod of understanding, the three men grouped the other young men into joining them in front of the matriarch.

It wasn't until they were standing before her and Yukio that Tsunade began to speak again. "Everyone, this is Yukio, the future leader of our village and Lord Sarutobi's successor."

Yukio bowed respectfully. "It's a pleasure."

"Yukio," Tsunade turned to him. "These three men here are the masters, those training the boys to be in the security force. That's Kakashi, Asuma, and Gai. Now, boys, if you don't mind, step forward when I call your name, so Yukio knows who I'm referring to."

The group of five young men of eighteen years merely stood while visually analyzing the slightly older young man in front of them.

"That's Sasuke…Shino…Kiba…Shikamaru…and Choji." Tsunade paused, and motioned over to Asuma. "Asuma, can you inform Jiraiya and Anko to end the training for the day and gather the two groups? I figure that I'll introduce the guardians and deities together."

He nodded and began to walk past her, but stopped. "Fa—Lord Sarutobi…is he here?"

"Yes, I had him escorted to wherever it is that he chooses to rest. After doing what I asked, you are welcome to go see him."

Asuma imperceptibly lifted his chin before nodding in gratitude. "Yes, ma'am."

Meanwhile, Yukio, like the security force boys, was analyzing them as well. From what he noticed, they were each very different from each other, and not just by looks. Sasuke was an all-around dark young man—black hair, black eyes, and judging by his cold expression, he had a very black personality as well. Shino appeared to have a calculating silence about him. He didn't seem the talkative type, unless he felt that something had to be said. His personality or any other traits were hard to identify for Yukio, since Shino's face always appeared to be hidden in the shade.

Kiba was entirely different from the other two, Yukio conjectured. He was smirking widely, and his eyes seemed to glint with something almost animalistic. That was made more pronounced by the extremely large, white dog that was sitting next to the brown-haired boy. Yukio had never seen nor heard of a dog being that large. _What kind of dog is that?_

At first sight, Shikamaru could've been passed over as another cold, serious personality, but on closer inspection, Yukio realized that the young man just seemed…laid back. His back was slouched, hands stuffed in his pockets and his gaze held tightly to the clouds above him. The last security force boy, Choji, was no more threatening than Shikamaru seemed to be. It didn't seem like he was really staring at anything; rather, he was intently focused on the little snack foods that he was popping into his mouth at succeeding intervals.

Yukio grunted to himself. _So, these are the temple protectors. Can't say that I'm impressed, but if Lady Tsunade approves of them, then I have no choice but to trust her judgement. I suppose that I can't truly judge until I see them in action, whenever that will be._

"Yukio," Tsunade summoned him out of his thoughts. "They're ready for us, so let's go."

"Yes, of course." Offering one more perplexed glance at the young men, Yukio turned and followed the matriarch to meet the next group, the guardians and the deities.

And what a sight to behold.

Frankly, he expected different. Much different. Total opposite ends of the spectrum different.

He expected them to appear statuesque, stern, and completely all-powerful.

They just looked like regular young adults. Nothing inhuman-like about them. Well, that is, except for a few of them…but definitely not all.

For instance, upon first approaching the large group, Yukio felt that he had just walked in on a group of friends, completely ignorant of the realities of the village and the outside world. At first glance, they seemed so…carefree…and happy, for the most part.

None of them expressed that more than a somewhat tall, blonde, young man. He stood out prominently, but only in a loud manner. He was talking, or yelling, at the blonde girl next to him. Like him, her eyes were blue, only a lighter shade. Her long hair was pulled back in a tie, and her white gown did not look like a gown at all—at least not the ones that he had seen. In fact, hers was short, low-cut, and overall revealing. She didn't seem to notice or care, and either did her blonde male counterpart.

For the moment, Yukio wasn't paying any close attention to what was being said among the group. What he did pay close attention to, however, was how each of them represented themselves upon first sight. After all, Yukio made a habit of analyzing whomever he encountered, and the temple residents absolutely could not be an exception.

Although the blondes seemed angry with each other, Yukio couldn't help noticing how close they were to each other, and how often they brushed against each other. Most shockingly, though, was how their faces betrayed the possibility that they were enjoying their argument. _A strange couple._

His eyes moved onto the next pair, and only because they were holding each other, the young man's arms around the female's body, neither acting embarrassed or shy about their affection. What struck Yukio the most about the couple was how different in appearance they were. While the pink-haired female was semi-attractive, her bowl-cut-hair lover wasn't. Wearing all green and shining away his overly wide eyes, he was not attractive at all. Despite that, the young woman seemed completely enamored with the boy. _How odd…_

Eagerly turning his gaze onto the next few people of the group, he met with some that were easier to take in than the previous couples. For one, two of them were possibly together as a couple, but that was only assumed by the fact that they were holding hands, and concealing it poorly as well. Both were brunettes, and while the boy was tall and wore some type of war paint, the female seemed to be lacking in showing off typical female characteristics. For instance, her hair was wound tight into two buns atop her head, and her gown was obviously not used for looking pretty; it was to provide for free movement, which made Yukio wonder if she was a physically fighting deity.

The young, green-eyed man was starting to wonder if any of them were normal. And that's when his eyes roamed over the last four people, with the two females in the middle. The first one his eyes landed on was a tall young man with somewhat feminine features. He appeared lean with long brown hair and strikingly white eyes. Yukio couldn't help but wonder if the man was blind, and if so, what was he doing being a guardian to a deity? Was that even safe?

His curiosity dwindled upon settling on the female next to him, who nearly seemed to be related to the white-eyed man. After all, here eyes were just as white as his, and her dark hair just as long as well. She was definitely shorter, and gave off an overall fragile and shy disposition. Her gown was modest, even though modesty could only hide so much of her obvious endowments.

Perhaps they weren't blind after all. Maybe that was really their eye color. _Interesting…_

Finally, his eyes met with the last pair, and they seemed to be on a completely different level than the others. Both were tall, and both of them emanated an intensely intimidating aura. The woman was no doubt full grown and older than the rest. Her sandy-blonde hair was mostly pulled away from her face, which made her calculating teal eyes more emphasized.

However, she wasn't nearly as startling as the young man standing next to her. He definitely stood out from the rest, and perhaps not in a good way. Flaming and wild red hair, light green eyes outset by dark lines, and an emotionless face that could've been carved out of stone were his most prominent characteristics. While his face was boyishly young, there was something in his eyes that aged him considerably.

To Yukio, the red-haired man fit the description of everything that he would be suspicious of. There was something dangerous about him that made the hairs on the back of Yukio's neck stand up, though he couldn't place why that was.

"All right, everyone, listen up. I'll say this once and only once, so shut up and listen. Naruto! I was talking to you, especially! Pay attention!"

Naruto merely smiled while scratching the back of his head in a very innocent manner. "What's up, Granny?"

The matriarch shook her head before repeating what she said to the security force and motioning toward the green-eyed man next to her. "I want you all to meet Yukio. He is Lord Sarutobi's successor, and will be taking over as village leader in the future. I suggest you be polite and cooperate while he's here. After all, you'll be working with him and obeying his orders in the future." She paused for a moment of silence before continuing again. "Yukio, these are obviously the guardians and deities, so let me introduce them to you. When I call out your name," she directed her voice toward the group of young adults. "Raise your hand, say hello, step forward—I don't care—just make yourself known. On that note, let's start with Naruto."

Naruto stepped forward while putting his hand in the air. "Hey there."

Tsunade continued. "That's Ino next to him, who is the deity he guards, and the couple near them is Lee and Sakura. They're each other's guardian and deity, too. Now, Ino has the ability to read minds, along with being able to move any object by just thinking it. Sakura, on the other hand, is pure brute strength. Though she may not look it, she could beat anyone in the village at an arm-wrestling contest."

Yukio nodded. "Impressive."

"Next would be Kankuro and the deity he guards, which is Tenten. She can take any material you put into her hands, and she'll turn it into a better quality weapon than you'll find anywhere else."

"And the next pair…" Yukio leaned over to whisper. "Are they blind?"

Tsunade smirked. "You're not the first to ask that, and no, they're not. They come from an age-old clan called the Hyugas. If you ever come across anyone with white eyes like that, I guarantee that they're a Hyuga. These two, in particular, are even more unique. That one who's frowning is Neji, and the deity he guards is Hinata, the one next to him who's blushing. And unlike the other deities, her power is completely supportive. She's the healer of the group, and she's done great work in the village over the years."

"Yes, I recall that. She's done excellent work, indeed." Yukio offered a slight smile in appreciation.

"The taller girl next to Hinata is Temari, and she's the oldest of the bunch, but not by far. She has power over wind and air, so I'd watch out for her tricks if I were you." Continuing on, Tsunade motioned over to the red-haired man. "And lastly, that's Gaara, Temari's youngest brother. Don't take his indifference personally—that's just how he is. I'm sure you'll get used to it in time." With a huge sigh, Tsunade folded her arms under her bosom. "That's all the introductions, which allows for me to properly welcome you to the Divine Temple now." She patted him on the back and began to escort him back towards the temple. "Now, how about you join us for lunch, Yukio? The dining room is always in need of fresh meat."

"Sounds comforting." He muttered, not having to wait long for the matriarch's hearty laugh.

* * *

Itachi made his way through the demonic campsite, swerving around the various large tents, and ignoring the multitudes of demons wandering about with their weapons in hand. His leather armor moved fluidly with every turn of his body, while his black cape billowed around him. None of these movements stopped, even as Itachi approached a much larger and more domineering tent than the rest—the demon leader's tent.

Two guards stood outside the entrance, each keeping their faces trained on alert readiness. Both turned to look at the approaching Itachi, neither blinking at his arrival.

But before either could speak, Itachi paused and narrowed his eyes in irritation. "Where is he."

Only one of them answered. "With Sasori."

A silent growl of agitation emitted from Itachi's throat as he quickly turned and stalked deftly towards the location of Sasori's tent. In no long amount of time, Itachi was there and pushed away one flap of the tent before entering in one agile motion.

Two figures turned at the intrusion, both faces remaining expressionless; at least, for the moment. The red-haired Sasori, a demon who's appearance mimicked that of a boy, was standing at one corner of a table, which hosted many glass bottles of unknown liquids, all differing in color and temperature. The other figure was taller, and while still somewhat young-looking was much older than the other demons. His long black hair hung over his back and his red eyes penetrated into whatever soul he was staring at, which at the moment, happened to be Itachi.

Not long after, however, the dark-haired demon leader formed his expression into one of expectant welcome with his typical smirk dominating his features. "Very impressive. It's almost like this mission didn't take you any time at all to complete. Of course, it doesn't look like you've bathed either. All that blood has got to be itching at you."

Itachi ignored him. "Why are you here. You said that you were departing for Akatsuki yesterday."

Madara raised his eyebrows. "Disappointed? It disheartens me that you're so eager to be rid of me."

Itachi chose his next words with careful precision. "I was under the impression—by you—that you were not going to stay here for a long duration of time. As I recall, you had important business in Akatsuki."

"I still do, but it seems I've been side-tracked." Madara turned to Sasori at that moment. "I want this to be the main focus of your work from now on until it's finished. I'll expect updates frequently."

"Yes, my lord." Sasori drawled, his attention returning to his work.

It was still strange, even after so many years, for Itachi to see how Madara presented himself nowadays, and to the whole population of demons. It was sometime after the demolition of the majority of civilian and demon hunter villages that Madara addressed the demon population and removed his mask, along with foregoing his other personality. From what he told Itachi, it was because the conquering of the world was soon to come, and the demons would need to properly know their leader so as to fully respect and obey him for who and what he was. They needed to know and fear him, the legendary Madara Uchiha.

And the demons did. At the very moment that Madara removed his mask, something filled the air with serious determination and conquest. Suddenly, the up and coming war had gained a grave solemnity at the forefront of every demon's mind.

Suddenly, it was time to end the ongoing battles and wars between demons and humans. A victor would finally be announced, but not yet.

"Itachi," Madara stood before the younger Uchiha. "Follow me. We have much to discuss." At that, they both exited the tent and remained silent until they entered into the leader's tent, at which point, Madara went to stand over a table that held a familiar map of the villages and territories.

Itachi stood before the other end of the table and watched as the leader pointed to three small dots on the map. "This is all that's left before this war can finally begin. And then," he swept his gloved hand over three large areas. "Konoha, Suna, and Ame will encounter our wrath…and they will fall…" He grunted derisively. "The three great allies. It will not save them from destruction. Nothing will."

Itachi appeared disinterested. "That Konoha barrier might."

Madara stared at him sharply. "It has a weakness. Everything has a weakness. All we have to do is find out what it is." A wicked smile contorted his lips. "And then Konoha will be crushed by my hands. I've allowed that village to be protected for far too long, and my patience has worn very thin."

Itachi couldn't help but stare confusedly at his leader, who had seemed to be talking more to himself than to the younger Uchiha. He also couldn't help but take notice of the slight edge of bitterness in the leader's tone of voice, which made him wonder at its origin.

"But before any of that, we need to rid ourselves of those three villages." Madara continued. "I already sent Pain and Konan to one, and Hidan and Kakuzu will be heading to that one tomorrow. As for the last, whenever you're ready, I'd like for you to take care of it. If you want, I can send Deidara or Kisame with you. I've sent Zetsu on a reconnaissance mission, and Sasori, of course, is busy."

"What exactly is he doing?" Itachi asked, being quickly reminded about the important conversation that the leader was having with the redhead not too long ago.

Madara's lips quirked upward in amusement. "Sasori has become quite the expert in the medical field as of late. In fact, he's more of an expert when it comes to poisons."

"So, he's developing a poison, then."

"Not just any poison…One that will test Konoha's strength."

One of Itachi's fingers twitched, though his face revealed nothing. "How."

"That poison is disease and illness in liquid form. Once it's perfected, I plan to release it into Konoha's main water supply, which Zetsu is locating as we speak. Then, in just a day or two, every Konoha citizen who drank from the water will be very ill. The young and healthy ones won't die from it, of course, but it will weaken them considerably. And even those who won't drink from it will no doubt catch the sickness from the carriers around them."

"And that'll be when you attack?"

The leader's mouth seemed to shrug noncommittally. "Perhaps. I haven't decided yet. First things first, though, I have to figure out a way through that barrier. We can't do anything until that's figured out."

Itachi remained silent, waiting for Madara to speak.

When he finally did, his tone of voice had returned to a neutral, slightly bored sound. "I'll be leaving soon. Will you take care of that village?"

"Yes,"

"Be aware that it is a demon hunter village and not mainly comprised of civilians."

"It won't be an issue."

Madara smirked. "Always so confident. Uchiha blood tends to do that."

"Will there be anything else after that?"

Raising a brow, Madara's smirk widened. "Oh, that's right. I made you a promise, didn't I?" He paused before speaking, sounding nonchalant. "Very well then. Destroy that village, report to me about your success, and then you're free to go about your business until I call on you again."

Itachi's eyes narrowed. "And that won't be until you've decided to attack, right?"

The smirk turned sinister. "Most likely. Now go, you're dismissed."

As was the case for every demon, Itachi lowered his head into a bow before turning on his heels and heading towards the tent exit.

"Itachi, one more thing before you go." Madara called out, noticing that Itachi just stopped in place without turning around. "Now that you have the time, why don't you spend some of it locating that pendant of yours. After all, Uchiha pendants are rare commodities nowadays, and I'd hate for you to lose yours permanently."

"Yes, sir." Was all Itachi murmured before officially leaving the tent and travelling immediately for the demon hunter village.

Although his face didn't change, he felt a jolt of an unfamiliar emotion run through his body at lightning speed. Despite how much he had debated over it for many years, he knew without a doubt that as soon as he finished reporting to the demon leader, he would begin his trek to Konoha to see a certain someone.

It had been ten years since he had last laid eyes on her…ten long years.

The waiting period was almost over, and it was a relief to know that his distractions would finally come to an end…but not until he saw her with his own eyes. It was almost time.

_Hinata._

* * *

"_Love reckons hours for months, and days for years; and every little absence is an age."_

_-John Dryden_

* * *

**I feel like I should be hiding behind a rock right now, but hey, I finished the chapter, and I'm going to go ahead and try to get started on the next one. However, I can't say that it'll be coming out anytime soon. This semester is totally kicking my ass, and taking up nearly all my time. And when it isn't, I'm babysitting my niece and nephew, who are both too young to allow me any time to myself.**

**But, like I said on my profile update, I'm not giving up on this story and will not stop until it's finished; even though it might take me awhile to finish it. **

**I want to give a huge thank you to my readers for being loyal and patient…well, some of you were patient.**

**Anyway, stick with me! We'll conquer this mountain in due time…especially since Itachi and Hinata's reunion is coming up soon!**


	17. History

**Author Note: **Here we go again…

**WARNING! **Itachi will not be in this chapter. I recently realized that I have a few loose ends to tie up before the inevitable reunion. I apologize if any of you thought that this chapter was going to be the reunion chapter, but it's not. However, like every chapter, it is important to the story line. I have to do a little groundwork first.

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XVI**

**History**

* * *

"_The charm of history and its enigmatic lesson consist in the fact that, from age to age, nothing changes and yet everything is completely different."_

_Aldous Huxley_

"_To open your heart to someone means exposing the scars of the past."_

_- Unknown_

* * *

Black hair whipped in front of her face, covering her red eyes momentarily before her hand reached up to pull it back. Kurenai sighed, holding her hair in one hand behind her head, before glancing up at the darkening sky—despite that it was early afternoon. "Sure is windy today, and by the looks of it, a storm is coming." She paused. "I'll have to let Lady Tsunade know."

She glanced away, staring ahead of her at the nearby construction. A new house was being built, and thanks to Sakura and Lee, it was being built quicker than usual. Sakura stood casually holding up one wall while the others moved quickly to plant in the support beams.

"How are you doing, Sakura?" Kurenai called over.

The pink-haired girl laughed, taking one arm away to wave in reassurance. "Not even breaking a sweat!"

"Well, keep it up! You're doing a great job!" Kurenai's eyes then turned to the seemingly green blur that was running in-between the other workers. "Lee! Take it easy before you start trampling the other men!" Another sigh escaped her lips while she wondered what was keeping Anko, who was supposed to have relieved her twenty minutes ago. Surely she knew that Kurenai had to take the next supervising shift at the pavilion…right?

While she continued to stand in the biting wind, Kurenai discreetly glanced to different rooftops and alleyways, where a few of the security force boys were keeping guard. She smiled. "Well done, Shikamaru, Choji." _Now, as to where Gai and Asuma are hiding…I have no idea._

"Miss Kurenai," A voice called out behind her.

She turned, and upon seeing the familiar light haired, green-eyed man, she smiled politely. "Good afternoon, Yukio. And, please, just Kurenai is fine."

He nodded and didn't stop until he was standing next to her. "Good afternoon to you as well, Kurenai." His gaze turned to the deity and her guardian helping out with the construction. "I can't tell you how much the leader and I appreciate all the hard work you all do for this village. It makes me wonder where this place would be without the lot of you, especially our prized deities."

She chuckled quietly. "As you can see, none of them seem to mind. In fact, they greatly enjoy it. It's a way for them to see others get along with them like they aren't any different. All the deities seem to want is just a chance to prove their normalcy."

"Rightly so. They deserve that much from us, and more if I say so myself." His tone was warm, but the smile didn't seem to reach his eyes.

"Of course. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Not at all. I like being able to see how the temple runs things. So, really, I'm just here to observe for a little while."

"I see." Kurenai muttered. "Well, Anko should be arriving here shortly, and when she does, I have to head over to the pavilion, so I'm sure that you'd be more than welcome to make your observations with Anko."

His smile remained steadfast. "Actually, if you don't mind, I'd like to accompany you to the pavilion. I find that all the work that goes on there is very…stimulating."

Her brows furrowed, making her smile look almost uneasy. "Alright then. We'll leave as soon as Anko arrives."

"Excellent." He paused shortly. "Now, I can easily tell that Lord Sarutobi is quite close to all of you. To be honest, I can't help but want that same kind of relationship with the temple residents. I admire him greatly and think of him as the perfect village leader…" He gulped, a feeling of dread forming in the pit of his stomach. "He's asked that I start preparing myself for my future responsibilities. I find it most important that I begin with the Divine Temple. He seems to treasure you all very much."

Kurenai was puzzled by the strange sad smile that overtook his features and then his embarrassed flush when he realized that he hadn't hid his emotions well enough. "Rest assured that it is not one-sided."

He nodded and gulped again before roughly clearing his throat. "I'm glad to hear it."

* * *

Hinata wiped the beginning beads of sweat that were forming on her brow before continuing to run her hands over the small boy's body. The boy himself couldn't have been any older than seven years, and thankfully, he was unconscious at the moment. Neither of her shaking hands touched his skin, but then again, they didn't have to. By focusing her concentration and energy with her hands, she was able to do an inward sweep of the boy's body.

The boy lay on a high table that was provided with a thin mattress as a supportable comfort for the sleeping child. While Hinata stood on one side, Shizune stood on the other with one of her hands holding a cloth over her mouth. "His mother said that for the past two weeks, he has had a high fever, the rash that you can see, diarrhea…he's been vomiting constantly—harshly dry-heaving when there's nothing in his stomach to throw up—and…" She shook her head mutely. "She says that he's been in a lot of pain, like every part of his body is aching."

Hinata nodded, staying quiet as she continued to mentally survey his body.

Shizune continued. "I've checked him over, and there's no wounds, no serious skin infections besides the rash…nothing outward. And there's no broken bones, no fractures, nothing. He's definitely sick with something." She paused for only a moment before gazing over at the studious Hinata. "Are you getting anything?"

Hinata's brows furrowed, letting her hands finally rest on the boy's chest. "He's very sick. His mother should have brought him in sooner." She gulped before licking her lips. "His heart, his lungs, his liver…they're all failing. At this rate, I don't think he would've been able to live past these next few days. But, I can heal him, and afterwards, he'll need plenty of bed rest."

"Alright, do you need anything?"

"No, thank you. This'll only take me a few minutes."

Shizune nodded. "Okay then, I'll go let his mother know and come back to check on you."

Hinata did nothing in acknowledgement; she only immediately began placing one hand over his heart and the other over his liver. To any onlooker, it merely looked like she was standing still, doing nothing. The only signs of her energy seeping out of her body was her labored breathing and more beads of sweat building up on her forehead. At one point, she could feel tremors working their way up and down her arms.

In her experience, she never had an issue with broken bones or outward wounds; those barely made her blink. However, anything that involved internal diseases managed to take a lot out of her, making her feel as though she had used her power nonstop for an entire day. It was exhausting.

The seconds passed by like minutes, and the minutes like hours, and when she had finally ridden the boy of his illness, she couldn't help stumbling back a few steps. She felt her back touch against a nearby table-bed while one of her hands automatically rested under her breasts in a habit of trying to stabilize her breathing. Her vision blurred, effectively ensuing a short spell of dizziness, which made her shut her eyes closed tightly.

Quickly, two hands fell on her shoulders to steady her for barely a second before one of those hands slid down her side to wrap securely around her waist. She blinked her eyes open only to stare into nearly identical eyes as her own…only, his were enraptured with concern.

"Are you alright? Hinata?"

She nodded with a weak smile. "I'm fine, Neji, thank you. Just dizzy is all."

The concern didn't disappear, and either did his hands. Eventually, he breathed out of his nose and shook his head. "It's barely the afternoon and you're already preparing to collapse."

"That's not true." She frowned. "I'm perfectly fine, Neji, really. Don't you believe me?"

"Not at all." At seeing her deepened frown, he sighed heavily in a frustrated manner before lifting her up onto the table-bed behind her, caging her onto it with his arms. When his eyes met hers, he tried to show that he was sympathetic and understanding, even though he had a hard time doing it. "Look, you're the only healer in this village, Hinata. Your health needs to come before everyone else's sometimes, don't you think?"

She averted her gaze and murmured quietly to him. "There's so much work to be done. I can't afford to quit so early in the day."

"I'm not asking you to quit." His tone was deadly serious, and when he forced her chin up so that they could look each other in the eyes again, he showed a sense of humor in his normally cold, white orbs. "I'm just asking for you to take a break. Surely that's not too unreasonable."

"But…Miss Shizune needs me, and—" she stopped as she noticed Neji glancing off to his side, not even seemingly paying attention to her.

"Miss Shizune," he called out to the woman, who was approaching the pair. "Hinata needs a break."

"Alright," The shorthaired woman replied without any qualms, it seemed. "I can handle things here. You have fifteen minutes, Hinata. Oh, and Neji, I could use your help with something."

He stood his ground stubbornly. "I'm not going to let Hinata go out there alone."

"Well, if she heads out back behind the pavilion, Shino and Kiba will be there, keeping watch."

His hesitation and reluctance were obvious. However, after gazing at his deity for what seemed like awhile, he faced Shizune and finally conceded. "Very well," He turned back to Hinata and delivered a quick kiss to her forehead. "Enjoy your break, and you're welcome." He murmured before following after the speedily departing Shizune.

Hinata sighed as she removed herself from the table-bed, and took a glance around the entire pavilion at all the hurried patients. She could see Ino at one end, talking to a man and woman, possibly about the visible injuries coating the man's head and arms. It definitely wasn't hard to miss Naruto, either, who was standing behind Ino, keeping his watchful gaze on their surroundings.

He really had matured over the years, turning his goofball nature into something more protective. Although, Hinata was sure that his new behavior had a lot to do with his somewhat new feelings for his deity.

Hinata also caught sight of Temari, who was placing bandages on one patient, and Tenten, who was not too far away and dealing with her own patient. Their respective guardians were, of course, standing near them at all times. The only difference between Kankuro and Gaara was that while Kankuro kept the majority of his attention on Tenten, Gaara was occupied with leaning against a table, arms crossed over his chest, and eyes closed. Despite that, Hinata knew without a doubt that beneath his guise of inattentiveness, he was more aware of his surroundings than anyone else present.

And as if the pavilion couldn't be anymore guarded than it was, Hinata spotted master Kakashi and Sasuke, both of whom continued to scan the crowd while murmuring to each other about possible threats.

Another sigh escaped Hinata without her notice, and without wanting to waste anymore of her break time, she walked toward the back end of the pavilion, escaping out through one of the openings. She looked around her, not seeing anyone—just the long road that either led to the temple or the leader's quarters. Surprisingly, though, she did not see Shino or Kiba, which made her silently question Shizune's knowledge of their whereabouts.

Not bothering to dwell upon it, she eventually seated herself on the dirt ground, pulling her knees up to her chest, securing her arms around her legs, and resting her head on her kneecaps. As she sat, she thought deeply about everything and nothing.

Unfortunately, as it had been happening quite often, her mind drifted to thoughts of her family, her parents and younger sister. She had been helping at the pavilion for six years, and had not seen or heard from them at all in that time, which was strangely odd to her. Surely, her parents must have found out that she was at the pavilion, that she frequented the village nearly every day. If so, then why hadn't they come to see her? Didn't they want to see her? Surely they didn't forget about her, right? Where were they?

"Well, this is a first."

Hinata jolted into an upright position and turned her head to the origin of the voice, only to see Kiba standing near his large dog Akamaru.

Kiba smirked with obvious humor. "We find Hinata, but there's no Neji. How did you manage to escape his clutches?"

"Did it ever occur to you, Kiba," Shino approached from the other side, hands in his pockets and eyes shaded. "That Neji might have known we'd be out here, and therefore, didn't see an issue with coming out here himself?"

Kiba scoffed. "As if that would matter to him. It seems like the only time he leaves her alone is when she heads to bed. Even then, I'll bet he's tempted as hell to follow her in and nestle up close to her underneath the covers. Right, Hinata?" He winked and laughed as he saw her cheeks burn to a deep red.

Shino didn't miss a beat; completely disregarding whatever nonsense came from Kiba's mouth. "Well, seeing as how Neji isn't out here, it's obvious that my assumption is correct, and you're wrong as always."

Kiba's humorous smirk was gone in an instant. "Watch it, bug boy."

Hinata chose that moment to interject. "You two didn't have to come over here; I would've been fine alone. Although, I do appreciate the company, so thank you."

The two young men glanced at her, looked at each other, and then gazed at her again.

Shino was the first to speak, albeit in a murmur. "You looked as though you could use the company."

Kiba quirked a brow as he leaned against his large dog. "What were you thinking about, anyway? Whatever it was, it looked like it got you thinking pretty deep."

Hinata averted her gaze, attempting to keep her expression from giving anything away. "Oh, it was nothing." She smiled at them in reassurance, but she really should've known better, especially with Shino.

Shino stepped forward until he was standing in front of Hinata and looking down at her with his intense and seemingly all-seeing gaze. "Lord Jiraiya once told me that when one answers with nothing, then it is surely something. If one answers with something, it is usually nothing."

Kiba scratched the back of his head before taking a seat next to Hinata. "Yeah, whatever the hell that means." His and Hinata's hands reached out to pet Akamaru as soon as the large dog lay down before them.

"So…" Hinata began, keeping her gaze set on the dog versus the two security force men. "You think I'm hiding something…?"

"Hey," Kiba answered, instead of Shino. "It's obvious that something was on your mind when we first saw you out here. Let us be good friends and listen to whatever the hell it is that's bothering you." He laughed shortly. "I mean, it's not very often that we actually try to act like good friends, right Shino?"

"Mm."

Hinata glanced between them, having an inner debate on whether or not she should just come out with it. It wasn't like it was a secret or anything, but it was something that was hard to talk about, even after all these years. "I was just thinking about my family…that's all."

Her answer didn't seem to strike an impact on the two; rather, Shino continued to stare and Kiba kept focused on grooming his canine companion. Although, it was Kiba who spoke. "And where are they?"

Hinata briefly shook her head. "I don't know. I was born and raised here in Konoha, and I know my parents lived here, too. But…I haven't seen them since they dropped me off at the temple, and I haven't heard from them since the last letter they sent me on my seventh birthday."

"They didn't keep in contact with you after that?" Shino asked, keeping her talking.

Hinata merely shook her head.

Kiba turned to her then and asked, "Don't take this how it's going to sound, but…are you sure that they're not…you know…gone?"

Hinata shrugged again. "I'm not sure. I know that they were definitely alive six years ago when we all visited the marketplace for the very first time."

Kiba bit back a chuckle. "You mean that time you were practically ambushed by the civilians."

She blushed before nodding. "Before that happened, Neji and I went to go see where I used to live…only to find out from a neighbor that my parents still lived there, but…" She gulped. "From what he said, it turns out that every spring, they leave Konoha to go travel around for a season or two." She smiled, even though it was strained and weak. "Maybe they saw a village that they really liked and decided to move there."

Kiba sighed, "Hinata—"

"Kiba," Shino interrupted him, glaring in warning. "However plausible your suggestion might be, keep in mind that it's easier for Hinata to believe what she believes."

Hinata stayed quiet, and only bit her lip and lowered her gaze.

Shino continued. "Hope has always been a comforting feeling, which is why we can't help but want to hold onto it as long as possible. Right, Hinata?"

She nodded, but kept her gaze toward the ground. "I just prefer to either think my parents moved away or that they might have even forgotten me…Anything is better than thinking that they might not be around anymore at all."

Kiba sighed again, stretching his arms behind his head. "Alright…whatever you want, Hinata."

"Thank you, Kiba."

He snorted. "Don't thank us. It's not like we really did anything. After all, Shino and I don't exactly understand what you're going through, considering that we never knew what it was like to have parents—we don't even remember ours."

Hinata perked up in curiosity. "What do you mean? What happened?" She stopped herself suddenly, realizing what she had asked. "I'm sorry, you don't have to tell me. It's none of my business—"

"It's fine." Shino interrupted her. "I'm sure neither of us mind about bringing our short past up, right Kiba?"

He shrugged and turned away, determined not to look at any of his companions. "Go ahead, Shino."

Hinata couldn't help but notice the strange flicker of emotion that washed over Kiba's face, and automatically, she felt the need to help him deal with whatever sadness he was feeling. She couldn't notice anything obvious in Shino's appearance, but Kiba gave off something so familiar to her, something she had often felt herself…loneliness. However, she wasn't given time to analyze it further, since Shino's voice interrupted her train of thought.

"Essentially, all of us at the Divine Temple are orphans." Shino began. "If we weren't before, then we became an orphan the moment we arrived. That's just how it works." He paused briefly. "Even so, we weren't without family. We look to the patriarch and matriarch as wise grandparents, and the teachers and masters as parents, and each other…as siblings and friends. I couldn't help but notice how we've all managed to unconsciously form another family for ourselves…the kind of family that suited us."

"Me and Shino," Kiba started. "Haven't exactly been this happy in a long time. It wasn't until we came to the temple that we finally felt like we belonged to something, or that there was a group of people who all cared for us."

"You see, Hinata, the only thing I know about my parents was told to me by Miss Kurenai, the one who brought me here, and Kiba as well. According to her, I come from the Aburame clan, which was a prestigious family of demon hunters. They're non-existent now, and I'm the only one who remains."

Kiba chuckled. "And the goddess only knows where the hell I came from. As far as I remember, I was born in an orphanage and lived there until Kurenai and Shino picked me up and brought me here. I haven't looked back since."

"I see…" Hinata mumbled, holding her finger to her lip in contemplation. A surge of great sympathy arose in her—a type of instinctual feeling of protectiveness over her friends, who had endured so much at such early ages. "So then—"

"Hinata," a new voice entered their conversation from behind her.

Turning around, she saw that it was her guardian. "Neji…"

"It's time to go back in…unless you need more of a break."

"No, no, of course not. I'm fine, but…" She turned to Kiba and Shino, silently wanting to hear the rest of their story.

Shino seemed to read her mind. "Ask Miss Kurenai about it later. I guarantee she can tell you more about it than we know."

"Are you sure? You don't mind?"

Kiba laughed again. "Nah, we trust you. I think we'd be insulted if you didn't."

Hinata smiled warmly. "Okay…thank you for telling me."

"Hey, you told us about you, so…it was mutual, right bug-boy?"

"Mm."

"Hinata, come." Neji ushered her back inside the pavilion, not letting his irritation leak through to his expression. Although, once they were out of earshot, he couldn't help but ask her, "What were they talking about?"

Hinata tried to offer him a disarming smile. "It was nothing. They were just keeping me company."

Neji highly doubted that.

* * *

The deities had their music rehearsals as soon as lunch had finished that day. For their next performance, they had decided to utilize Sakura and Ino's arguments as a type of source for the next composition (1). The main focus of the music would be expressed as a type of duel of instruments between Ino's flute and Sakura's violin. During which, Hinata would have a few sequences of her harp, and Temari and Tenten had come up with a dance to illustrate such a duel. So far, it was looking exceptional and they hoped to have it ready to perform by the following night.

After the rehearsal, the deities were to meet up with Anko for a short training session before dinner. All but one of the deities left. Hinata stayed behind with the intention to have a moment alone with Kurenai, their supervisor. During which time, she planned to carry out the remainder of the conversation she previously had with Shino and Kiba.

Seeing Hinata staying behind in an almost restless state, Kurenai furrowed her brows. "Is everything alright, Hinata?"

Fiddling with her fingers nervously, Hinata moved closer to the older woman. "I was wondering if…I could ask you something…"

"Of course," Kurenai seated herself in one of the vacant chairs in the room, while pulling another one close to her for Hinata to sit in. It wasn't until they were both seated that Kurenai inquired as to what was on Hinata's mind. "So, what is it?"

"I was wondering if you could tell me about what happened to Kiba and Shino." Hinata's eyes widened as she waved her hands before her in a panic. "I know it's none of my business, and Shino was going to tell me, but he said that he wanted me to ask you instead."

Kurenai nodded solemnly. "Well, it's not my story to tell, Hinata. It's Kiba's and Shino's, but apparently, he gave you permission, so I don't mind. However, all I know about it is what I remember and what Shino and Kiba told me about themselves."

"So, Shino was right." Hinata murmured. "You were the one who brought them here."

"Yes, but it was quite a long time ago."

"Shino said that you found him and then Kiba…at the same time, right?"

"Well, on the same trip, yes, but not the same time." Kurenai explained. "I found them separately and brought them both back to Konoha."

"What happened to them?"

Kurenai smiled sadly. "Shino comes from a well-known clan, and his parents were old friends of mine. The Aburames were human, but they were very gifted. I don't know if Shino told you, but he has quite the affinity for insects. That's solely because of his clan's specialty, because that's what they specialized in. For some reason, since their birth, they were able to…not control, but…cooperate with insects…as if the bugs were their allies. It's difficult to explain and you won't understand that connection until you see Shino in action.

"Anyway, because of their unique talents, they became excellent demon-hunters. So much so, that other demon hunter groups would call on them from time to time to help assist with the tracking of any demon. The Aburames were that good. Unfortunately, that also meant that they were a threat to the demon race. Therefore…it became every demon's prerogative to search and destroy any Aburame they could find.

"Not wanting to endanger their village, the entire clan left and separated in different parts of the land to fight off the demons. Shino was barely four at the time, and his parents had no choice but to take him along with them. They had planned to leave him in the care of a neighboring village, one that was no threat to the demons, but it didn't work out that way.

"Shino's family was attacked, or ambushed more like it, and Shino was separated from every one of them. It was my mission to search them out and help out where I could. I met up with Shino's parents not even a day after Shino had gone missing. Instead of assisting them with the battle, they asked for me to find their son and take him to where he could be safe." Kurenai gulped. "That was the last I heard from them."

Taking a deep breath, she began again. "I found Shino a day later, and it was a miracle that he was still alive and barely unharmed. A young child like him, lost out in the dense forest, which was full of every danger imaginable…it was amazing to find him alive. Luckily, I knew Shino since birth, so he had no qualms about coming with me to safety."

"To Konoha, right?" Hinata interjected.

"Yes, to Konoha."

"Is that when you found Kiba, too?"

"Yes, but it was unintentional. Shino and I stopped at a village along the way for rest and supplies. That was when we found Kiba. It turned out that he was abandoned as a baby and taken in by an orphanage. I found him on the streets, and he had basically told me how much he hated the orphanage and never wanted to go back. I asked if he would like to come with us, and…" She chuckled. "It took a lot of convincing, but he eventually agreed. Not to mention, the time it took to release him from the orphanage." She paused to gaze at Hinata. "They were the next ones to come to the temple. The first, of course, being Temari, Kankuro, Gaara, and Naruto."

There was a moment of silence before Hinata stood and smiled at her teacher. "Thank you, Miss Kurenai…for telling me."

The older woman smiled genuinely. "I'm glad, Hinata."

"Hm?" Hinata tilted her head curiously.

"I'm glad that Shino and Kiba have found a friend like you, who wants to know and understand them."

"Oh, um…" Hinata laughed sheepishly. "I feel so nosy asking about their pasts."

"Believe me, Hinata." Kurenai smirked. "If you had nosy intentions, Shino and Kiba wouldn't have told you a thing. They both have a knack for sensing the true intentions of a person. I believe they knew how sincere you were, and so they were very willing to tell you what was usually very personal to them. I believe they actually do want you to understand and know about them."

Hinata was silently in shock.

Kurenai continued. "After Shino was brought back here, we lost all touch with his family, and we could only assume that they had been wiped out. Those two boys have been very lonely, and you could see that, couldn't you?"

"Um," Hinata bowed her head before nodding. "I suppose…"

"You're a very empathetic person, Hinata, and I think that's why you're so easily liked here at the temple."

"I…" Hinata furrowed her brows in confusion. "I don't understand what you mean."

Kurenai smiled. "I mean…that you have a special ability for sensing hidden emotions in other people and sincerely wanting to help them at all costs. It's a gift that not many have nowadays." She paused to gaze with a far away look outside the nearest window. A ghost of a smile played on her lips. "Everyone here has been through so much in their lives and at such young ages too. Despite having friends here, I think they couldn't help but want to be close to you, because your natural empathy allows them to feel like they are truly cared for." She faced Hinata with obvious amusement in her red eyes. "I think in a few more years, they'll be looking to you as a mother figure."

At that, Hinata blushed and stammered in embarrassment. "I-I-I d-don't think that c-could happen…"

Kurenai could only smile knowingly.

* * *

It was strange how hearing about Shino and Kiba's past had intrigued Hinata to want to know more about all of her friends' history before arrival at the temple. If what Shino said was true about them all essentially being orphans, then she yearned for the chance to want to understand all her friends' past troubles. She knew about Neji's past, and now, she was aware of how Shino and Kiba came to be at the temple. But…what about the others? Had they gone through things that were equally hurtful—scarred wounds on their heart that they intended to remain hidden?

Of course, Hinata wasn't about to push any of them into telling her, but her heart seemed to pull towards that immediate feeling of wanting to heal each one of them of whatever pain they carried with them. She wasn't so ignorant as to think that she was the only one still suffering from a painful past. She, like everyone else, had just learned to cover it up and disguise it with a smile, more or less.

Would they confide in her, though? Was Kurenai right in saying that Hinata just happened to be "empathetic"? Easy to talk to? Someone that people naturally wanted to be close to?

It was hard to believe, but she couldn't help hoping that it was true.

Shino had been right, and Hinata believed what he said wholeheartedly. Somehow, the group of orphans had formed their own family, with each other. It was true, too; Hinata had no doubt in her mind that her friends had become more of a family to her than her own flesh and blood. Was that how everyone else felt, too?

All these things Hinata had thought about as she sat down at dinner, while making casual glances at everyone seated at the table, even those she wasn't that close to. Sakura and Ino, for instance, Hinata considered as friends, but they were nowhere near Temari's level or even Tenten's. Still, they were friends, and despite how some of them wouldn't want to admit it, they did care for each other…just like family.

Hinata allowed a small smile to stretch across her lips just before she was nudged.

Temari leaned close to her as if she was going to tell a secret of some kind. "Want to hit the baths after dinner?"

Hinata nodded eagerly. "That'd be great."

"Good. Then once you're finished, go grab some clothes from your room and I'll meet you there."

"Okay." Hinata whispered.

"Hey, you guys are going to the baths?" Tenten spoke quietly as she leaned across the table, causing Kankuro to roll his eyes and lean back. Temari glared, causing the weapons deity to laugh. "You didn't seriously think that you were being that quiet, did you?"

Temari sighed heavily, resting her cheek upon her upraised fist. "I guess not. So, you want to come, too?"

"Duh! With all that wind today, it was pretty cold. I've been looking forward to a nice hot bath."

"Alright, we'll meet you there, then. Just don't announce it to the entire world."

Tenten winked. "Got it."

Kankuro rolled his eyes again. "I just love it how us guys are pretty much invisible to you girls."

"Oh, did you say something, Kankuro?" Tenten smirked.

He shook his head. "What's the point of whispering secrets, if you don't even care that we can hear you."

"Well, that's just it, little bro." Temari smirked as well. "We don't care if you know what we're planning. It's not like you can come join us."

He glanced at Tenten. "Tell me about it."

Neji leaned over to Hinata. "How long do you think you'll be?"

"Um, I'm not sure. An hour, maybe?"

He nodded. "Very well. I'll escort you there and make sure to be there to escort you back to your room."

"Okay." She smiled, to which his own lips quirked upward in return.

* * *

"Do you have everything?" Neji asked while his eyes searched her body as if ensuring that she hadn't forgotten anything.

"Yes, I'm all set." She smiled. "So, I'll see you in an hour, okay?"

His eyes eventually rested on her own, and with a small smile of his own, he reached his hand forward to cup her cheek, his thumb smoothing over her rosy skin. "An hour…How will I amuse myself without you?"

Sensing his sarcasm, Hinata tried to retort in the same manner. "I'm sure you can manage."

"Mm," His eyes began to carry a far-away look as they focused dazedly on the feeling of her skin underneath his fingertips. "Perhaps not…"

When his eyes slowly found hers, she could see an unrecognizable emotion in his wintry depths, and for some reason, it made her heart beat pick up speed. However, it was done in a very nervous fashion, which caused for a wave of uncertainty to pass over her. Despite that, she couldn't help but notice his look of yearning. Whatever he was yearning for, though, she didn't know. He wanted something from her, but what?

The unanswered question made her even more nervous…and uncomfortable. She was so focused on trying to figure it out that she didn't seem to realize how much closer his face was nearing hers.

That was until she spoke. "Neji?"

He stopped, and whatever he saw in her gaze made the unspeakable emotion disappear from his expression in an instant. His hand returned to his side, his eyes narrowed, and his brows furrowed as if in frustration. Somewhat reluctantly, he backed away from her and cleared his throat. "An hour then." He nodded briefly and turned on his heel. "Enjoy yourself."

"Thank you, I—" He was already gone and out of her line of sight. "I will." Her gaze moved about restlessly, and she felt like chiding herself as if she had done something stupid. Shaking her head, she walked through a doorway into the women's changing room, which led to the baths. Luckily, no one was in there at the time.

Hurriedly, she removed her clothes, exchanging them for a towel to cover her naked body. Her nimble fingers quickly went to remove her necklace, only for her to stare down at the pendent as it rested against her palm. As her thumb moved against the hard diamond surface, watching the small amount of blood swish inside, she recalled that Itachi had told her to never take it off, to always keep it against her skin.

Even so, it was safer to take it off when she bathed; otherwise, she knew she would receive curious questions about it—questions that she would have difficulty lying in answer to.

Hearing footsteps approaching, she quickly tucked the necklace in-between the folds of her clothes, and wrapped it securely. In that short time, Temari had entered the room and offered a smile of welcome to Hinata. "Hey, I'm surprised you got here before me."

Hinata shrugged. "It didn't take me long to grab clothes."

"Ah," Temari began removing her clothes, and when her towel was wrapped around her body, she motioned to Hinata with a tilt of her head. "Ready?"

In answer, Hinata nodded and followed after her older friend.

Tenten joined them soon after, allowing for just the three of them to be left alone, soaking in the hot mineral bath water. A collective sigh of relaxation was clearly heard among the three deities as they lowered into the water.

"This is so nice…" Tenten closed her eyes and murmured in happiness.

Temari hummed in agreement, closing her eyes as well.

Hinata, however, found more enjoyment in watching her hand cup the water and seeing it disappear around her fingers as soon as she lifted it above the liquid surface.

Temari cracked her eyes open, stretched her arms behind her head, and gave a side-glance to Hinata. "I noticed you stayed later than the rest of us after rehearsals. What for?"

Hinata met her gaze for a moment before turning her attention back to her hands. "Oh, um…I was just talking to Miss Kurenai."

Tenten spoke up in curiosity. "What about?"

Keeping her gaze fixed on her hands, Hinata murmured quietly. "Nothing much…"

It was quiet after that. Neither of the older girls said anything, which Hinata appreciated.

Although, Hinata was brought back to how she had felt after hearing about Shino and Kiba's past, about how she wanted to know more about everyone else's past. She wanted to understand them and what they had been through. There was no way that she could be the only one still suffering, and perhaps if they all shared their pasts instead of keeping it hidden and buried, then some healing could be done. Perhaps in some way, they could all learn to move on…together…as a family. Hinata hated how she knew that it would be easier said than done, but it was worth a try, wasn't it?

"Um…" She spoke up, breaking the momentary silence to look at Temari. "Miss Kurenai told me that you and your brothers…and Naruto…were the first ones to come to the temple."

Temari nodded before speaking. "Yup…we were."

"And…Shino and Kiba came next?"

Temari nodded again, closing her eyes and appearing nonchalant about the entire discussion. "Neji came after them…and then Lee…"

Tenten interjected with a smile. "And then me."

Not really directing the question to just one of them, Hinata couldn't stop herself from asking, "How did you get here? Were you dropped off by your parents?"

Even though Temari kept silent after that, Tenten seemed to have no difficulty in telling her own history. "Nope, not me. Master Gai brought me here."

Hinata felt surprised. "Really?"

Tenten released a silent chuckle. "Yeah…" An echo of a smile remained on her lips, even though her face was lowered. "I guess…after Temari arrived here, word got around that the deities were returning to our world. Everyone in every village seemed to keep an eye our for us. Lee and Master Gai just happened to be travelling through my village one day and noticed me using my powers." She shrugged, still keeping her eyes averted. "He managed to convince my parents to let him take me here…saying that I would be safe and well taken care of. He was right. It's a lot better here than it was where I used to live."

Hinata had so many questions to ask, but persevered to stay silent and let Tenten explain further if she wanted to.

Fortunately, Tenten did continue her story. She began with a humorless laugh. "It's funny…how differently parents look at their child when that child is no longer…_just _human." She laughed again. "I think mine were actually afraid of me." She shook her head, still laughing. "It doesn't make sense, does it?"

Hinata mutely shook her head, feeling stupid for bringing up the subject. What had she been thinking? Talking about it only seemed to make things worse—like reopening a wound that was trying so desperately to heal on its own and in its own time. _So stupid…_

"To be honest, though," Tenten spoke up in a lighter voice. "It was really all for the best, I think. I mean," She paused to smile warmly at Hinata. "I would never have met you guys…would've never met Kankuro."

Temari snorted in good humor. "I still have yet to figure out how on earth he manages to make you happy."

"And you're just saying that cause he's your brother."

"I'm saying that because I've known him all his life." Temari sat up straighter, a teasing smile playing on her lips. "Give it ten years and you'll be begging me to get rid of him for you."

Tenten laughed, slapping the water and effectively splashing the equally laughing Temari.

Before the laughing died down, Tenten faced Hinata and began talking again. "I'll tell you something not many of us here know, though. You see, there's a reason why Lee acts so much like Master Gai. Don't get all teary-eyed about it, though, okay?"

Hinata nodded, while trying to suppress a smile.

"Okay, so…apparently, Master Gai used to be a demon-hunter like everyone else here, it seems. Well, he also used to be really good friends with Lee's parents, but during this one battle with demons, Lee's parents died…and pretty much right after he was born."

"That's horrible." Hinata mumbled quietly.

"Yeah, and since Lee had no other relatives, Master Gai pretty much adopted him and took care of him ever since. Years later, Master Gai met up with Master Kakashi and was offered a job, where he would be working under Lady Tsunade and Lord Jiraiya here in Konoha. He took it and came here after Neji arrived." Tenten waved her hand. "Then he and Lee went on a mission to my village and found me and…there you go."

Hinata nodded in understanding. "So then…after you came…?"

"Sakura and Ino…and Choji and Shikamaru."

"All of them at once?"

"Yup. Master Asuma brought them here."

"I see…" Hinata paused in contemplation. "Did…Sakura, Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru all know each other before they came here?"

"Of course we did. We were all born and raised in the same village." The answer did not come from either Tenten or Temari. In fact, as Hinata turned around to face the origin of the voice, she saw Ino and Sakura standing at the edge of the bath with their towels wrapped around their bodies.

Temari sighed. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Taking a bath—what does it look like we're doing?" Ino replied smartly, throwing her towel off to the side and slipping into the hot water with Sakura following.

Temari offered a discreet glare in Tenten's direction, to which Tenten raised her hands in defense. "What? I didn't say anything."

"It's not her fault." Sakura spoke up. "We overheard Kankuro mentioning it to Naruto, and we weren't going to at first, but…"

Ino finished. "After today, a hot bath just sounded too tempting."

Temari rolled her eyes closed and leaned back in relaxation. "Whatever."

"So, anyway," Ino turned to face Hinata. "You're curious about how we all got here, huh?"

Hinata could feel her face heating up in embarrassment. "Well, I—I just…" She stumbled over her explanation. "I wasn't curious or…or pushing Tenten to tell me, I was just…wondering, that's all…" She finished lamely, lowering her head in shame. Now, she really did feel nosy.

"You're not being nosy, don't worry." Ino startled her by saying. "You let your guard down for a second there. I couldn't resist sneaking a peak at your thoughts."

"Oh…" Hinata made a mental note to not forget to focus on keeping her mind block up whenever she was around Ino. It was getting harder, though, with Ino getting stronger and more skilled at her mind-reading gift.

The young blonde shrugged innocently. "Sorry. Didn't mean to intrude on your privacy, or whatever."

Temari shook her head. "If you're sorry, then don't do it."

"It's a habit, okay? I can't help myself. It's like me telling you to lay off the wind, or telling Hinata to stop healing people. What's the point, right?"

Temari groaned. "Good goddess, you're annoying."

Ino merely just stuck her tongue out in reply.

"So," Hinata intervened. "If you don't mind me asking, you two grew up with Choji and Shikamaru?"

Argument resolved.

Sakura answered eagerly. "Yes, we sure did. Believe it or not, we actually all lived together."

"You did?" Tenten piped up in surprise. "I didn't know that."

"Yup," Ino added. "We all met in an orphanage and became friends in that orphanage…We didn't leave until Master Asuma found us and said something about how all the deities are supposed to live in some temple in some village." She rolled her eyes. "Sakura and I were let go, and only the goddess knows how, but Choji and Shikamaru must have made quite an impression on Master Asuma, because he insisted on taking them back to the village, too."

Tenten seemed to take over the questioning. "What about your parents?"

"Who knows?" Ino shrugged as if she didn't care, but Hinata could see that her eyes said otherwise.

It was really Sakura who gave an honest answer. "We don't know. Actually, none of us remember our parents, if we even had parents, that is. We barely remember the orphanage, much less how we got there. It was a long time ago."

"And shit happens." Ino muttered. "If they didn't want us, then I say good riddance."

"I agree!" Tenten laughed with that previous tinge of non-humor.

Much against her better judgement, a part of Hinata inwardly agreed as well. Shino was definitely right in saying that they were all orphans, but how was it their fault? What did they all do that was so bad that their parents didn't want them anymore? For years, she explained to herself that her parents left her at the temple because they cared, because they wanted to protect her and keep her safe. After so many years, that excuse didn't hold the same effect anymore. _Ino's right…if we're not wanted, then good riddance. We have our own family now…one we created just for us._

--

Temari and Hinata were the last ones to leave, and during that whole time, Temari didn't mention the slightest detail relating to her past with her brothers and Naruto. In fact, in all the years that Hinata lived with Temari, the older deity had never brought up any details about her past before coming to the temple.

Then again, Temari was a very private person in cases such as those. She was also a master at guarding secrets, especially the ones that pertained to what Gaara and Naruto really were. That must have been why Temari never said anything during their discussion of past experiences. Perhaps there was nothing she could say without having to go into details about Gaara and Naruto's supposed "true nature".

That was one secret that all the ones who knew about it made sure to keep secret. In fact, the only reason Hinata knew about what Gaara and Naruto really were was because Gaara had told her himself. Of course, at first, he had only told her about him being a half-demon. In the recent years, and as their relationship grew, he eventually confided in her about Naruto being a half-demon as well. When Temari found out that Gaara had divulged his and Naruto's ultimate secret, she actually seemed more relieved than upset.

It was obviously a secret that Temari wasn't fond of sharing with anyone, and for very good reasons. Hinata had no doubt that Naruto and Gaara had suffered enough from it in the past—what reason would anyone have for wanting them to possibly suffer more, and at the hands of their friends, their family?

Hinata continued to dwell in her thoughts as she finished drying herself off and began dressing herself. She discreetly placed her necklace back around her neck, letting the diamond rest against her skin, just under the neckline of her gown. Due to a certain placement of her gown along her neck, shoulders, and chest, she was able to keep her necklace hidden from everyone's view. Anything to keep her most deepest of secrets a secret still. Gaara was the only one who knew its existence in her possession, besides the real owner himself of course, and the red-head was already one person too many.

Looking at it that way, she couldn't blame Temari for keeping quiet. After all, some things were better left unsaid; primarily, for the safety of others.

"Hey," Temari grabbed Hinata's attention from her position on the opposite side of the changing room. "I'm surprised you haven't asked me yet."

Hinata lifted her dirty clothes up under her arm before facing Temari in question. "Asked you what?"

She barely smiled. "About my past with my brothers and Naruto. Didn't you want to know about that?"

"Not if you don't want to tell me." Hinata answered honestly, showing her understanding, even though she had no idea about Temari's past.

"Honestly, I never wanted to even think about it ever again." She began to smile a little wider. "But…after seeing those three act the way they did after talking about it…well, now I'm tempted."

The dark-haired young woman furrowed her brows in confusion. "What do you mean the way they acted after talking about it?"

"You didn't notice?"

She slowly shook her head, still very confused.

Temari located a wooden bench, and after ensuring that no one was in or near the changing room, she sat down comfortably, telling Hinata to do the same. Only then did she try to clear up Hinata's confusion, and she did it in her typical direct manner. "They looked relieved…like one hell of a burden had been lifted from their shoulders, or something. Talk about strange…So, I can't help but want to see if that could happen to me. I've heard about how people feel relieved and can move on after talking about their issues, but it all seems like bullshit to me…or at least, it did until I saw it happen to those three. Now, I'm not so sure. Call me foolishly hopeful, but I think I'll give it a try."

"Okay…" Hinata nearly whispered.

Temari appeared nervously unsure. "So…I'll talk, you listen?"

Hinata nodded with a comforting smile. "Of course, Temari. I'll listen for as long as you need me."

She laughed. "Well, hopefully, it won't take too long. The last thing I want to do is spend my night talking in the changing room. And plus, I got to be kind of quick since I know that Neji will be here soon, expecting to see you waiting."

Hinata grimaced at her guardian's natural punctuality, or obsession, as Temari called it.

The older girl sighed in resignation. "So…where to begin…?"

"Were you and your brothers born in the same village?"

"Yes, born and raised until Gaara turned three. We're actually natives to Suna…born there, but mainly lived in a small house just on the edge of town. Mine and Kankuro's father used to be the leader of the village. I heard he died about fifteen years ago. There's a new leader now, although I don't know his name." She shook off her short digression. "Anyway, as you can probably guess, my brothers and I share the same mother, but…Gaara doesn't share the same father."

"So, it was his father that was the demon?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah…and by the way, I am still really amazed that Gaara told you about him being a…you know, a half-demon. You're the first non-related human that he's allowed to know about him."

Hinata smiled, but didn't say anything; at least, not outwardly. _It was only fair, I think. I know his secret, and he knows mine. He's the only person I can really trust to know about…Itachi. _She hated how much it still pained her just to simply think his name. Even though she had been waiting hopefully for his return, the past couple of years, she had been continually questioning herself, wondering if he had forgotten about her. He promised that he wouldn't…He promised her.

"Hinata?"

She gasped, being jolted out of her reverie.

Temari sat there, staring at her in a confused concern. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm so sorry—that was rude of me."

"It's all right. Although, maybe we should just talk about this some other time."

Hinata's eyes widened in panic. "No, no, no, it's fine, really. I'm sorry, it won't happen again. Please continue."

Temari stayed silent and contemplative, however.

"You were saying that Gaara's father was a demon?"

It took a moment before Temari replied, since she was still trying to figure out what had made Hinata look so desolate and lost for a moment. "Yeah. He was." She cleared her throat, taking the time to reorganize her thoughts. "Gaara's father, a really powerful demon, attacked the village once when Kankuro and I were really young. Apparently, my father was away on business and left one of his underlings in temporary charge.

"When the battle broke out, everyone was running for safety, rather than grabbing weapons and armor and racing out to fight the demon off. Because of that…our mother…was raped by the demon, and almost killed if my father's guards hadn't arrived when they did. Either way, my mother was found pregnant a month later…with a half-demon child. Needless to say, my father didn't take that news too well, especially since he knew that it wasn't his, nor any other human's."

She cleared her throat again and resituated into a more comfortable sitting position. "Therefore, my father sent us to live in some tiny shack of a house just outside the village—practically forgetting about our existence in the process. Then mom had Gaara, and the next three years were spent in a hell of desperation. Anytime Kankuro and I went into town to get food and supplies, we were looked upon as if we were diseased, like we were disgraces to humankind…all because we had a baby brother who wasn't entirely human."

Temari snorted in disgust. "Father even remarried. But, he spent the majority of his time sending out his best warriors to find and kill the demon who attacked us. I guess the bastard's pride was hurt, so he wanted his revenge. He even went so far as to hire demon-hunters, and finally, the demon was tracked down and killed." She faded into a prolonged silence before speaking again, except it was in a quiet murmur. "Mom got really sick after that. Pretty soon, I was the one taking care of her and my brothers, instead of the other way around."

"So that's how you became the mother hen you are today." Hinata made an attempt to lighten the mood, only to feel like she failed when Temari didn't laugh.

All Temari did in response was smile slightly. "Yeah, that would explain it." She paused for awhile as if remembering all the past events. When she spoke again, it was in a monotone. "Mom died, and then Lady Tsunade found us, finding out that I was a deity. Naruto was with her at the time, and without bothering with anyone in my village, she took us here to Konoha, and let us live under her protection and guidance."

She inhaled deeply, returning to her normal persona. "As for Naruto, I can't really help you there. None of us know anything about his past. If anyone would know, it'd have to be Lady Tsunade or Lord Jiraiya. If they do, though, they won't tell you. Naruto's even being kept in the dark, so I can't help but think that it's for the best. The patriarch and matriarch are closest with Naruto, so I know that they would never want to cause him unnecessary harm. If he's had a bad past, perhaps it's better that it remains uncovered…for now, anyway."

They sat in silence again, as if mulling over what had just been said. Surprisingly, the one to speak up next was Hinata. "So, do you feel relieved or unburdened?"

Temari looked like she was seriously thinking about it. "Kind of…but not really. If anything, I'd just rather completely forget about all of it. It feels like it was another life, like it was ages ago. That's a good thing, right?"

"I don't know…" Seeing her older friend's seemingly lost gaze, Hinata said earnestly, "Are you happy? Now? In the present?"

Temari looked up at her from her slouched sitting position and stared blankly for what seemed like a long moment. Eventually and very slowly, Temari shrugged and sighed with a small smile lighting up her expression. "It would appear that I am. It would appear that all of us are happy now…and that is a good thing, isn't it?"

"Yes…it is."

--

"Goodnight, Temari."

"Night, Hina. See you in the morning." Temari turned to the young man standing next to her smaller friend. She only offered him a nod of acknowledgement. "Neji,"

"Temari," he replied and watched with Hinata as the older deity turned a corner and disappeared from their sight. Only then did he turn to his charge and address her in a strictly business manner. "You'll need to hurry and put your clothes back in your room. Lady Tsunade has requested our presence in her office as soon as you were done."

That was shocking…and very abrupt. "Do you know what it's about?" Hinata asked as they began a quick trek to her room.

"She didn't say, but I'm guessing that it's probably another mission."

"Oh…"

Neji's stern expression died away into a smirk. "You don't look too excited."

She shook her head, her eyes drooping halfway. "I'm just tired."

"Well, try to get through another hour of being awake. I seriously doubt that she's going to send us out tonight."

Hinata yawned. "I know…I wonder what kind of mission it will be."

"Nothing that would involve fighting enemies, I'm sure." Neji seemed depressed about the fact. "We never seem to get missions like those."

As Hinata watched Neji from the corner of her eye, she was beginning to seriously wonder if she was the only one who thought that was a good thing.

* * *

"I'm glad to see you two made it. Have a seat." Tsunade greeted the deity and guardian with nothing more than a quirk to her lips.

Hinata seated herself, while Neji chose to stand behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders. Kakashi occupied the seat next to Hinata, and Sasuke was found leaning against a nearby wall, not too far from Lord Jiraiya.

When everyone seemed comfortable enough, Tsunade interlaced her hands and began with all seriousness. "In case you haven't figure it out, I have a mission for all of you, or more specifically, for Hinata. The rest of you will serve as guardians, and for the obvious reason that you're going to be sent to a very dense and remote part of the forest."

"To do what, exactly?" Kakashi asked.

Tsunade didn't reply right away, and instead, opened a scroll on her desk and pointed to an image of a plant. When she spoke, she spoke to Hinata. "This plant is a very rare medicinal herb, found only in certain areas, and can only be picked at certain times each year. We need as many of these herbs as possible, and that's what I need you to do, Hinata. Memorize what this plant looks like, down to the very last detail, and bring back as much as you can."

"Yes, Lady Tsunade."

"That's it?" Sasuke muttered. "That's all we're doing?"

"Is there a problem, Sasuke?"

He huffed and faced away in obvious displeasure.

Kakashi spoke up again. "And where is this dense and remote part of the forest?"

It was Lord Jiraiya's turn to explain as he pulled out a small map of the land and pointed to a marked circle. "We don't have any exact coordinates, and we haven't been there in a very long time, so we couldn't tell you exactly where they are. However, we do know for a fact that those plants are located in this area." He tapped the circle again.

"May I take this with me?"

"Of course, Kakashi." Tsunade answered. "Take whatever you guys will need. The bags that you will be needing to fill, I will leave by the front entrance of the temple, so don't forget them." She stood fluidly. "Kakashi, I'm leaving you in charge as always. Guard Hinata with your life."

"Understood."

"The same goes for you two," She stared at the two young men. "Hinata's safety is your number one priority. If she comes back hurt, I guarantee that you two will get the worst of it. Not to mention, she has a performance with the other deities tomorrow night, and I would hate for her to miss that."

Neji spoke up that time. "So, when do you recommend we leave?"

"As early as possible tomorrow, and get back here either by the afternoon or early evening." She stopped before correcting herself. "Actually, just plan to be back by dinner."

Jiraiya faced Kakashi. "Take enough supplies with you, and be prepared for the worst. That forest isn't as safe as it used to be."

That seemed to perk up Sasuke's interest. "Are you saying that there's a high chance we'll be attacked by a demon?"

Tsunade resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and instead, leaned forward on her desk. "You so much as take one step outside the village walls, and there is a chance you will be attacked. Yes, Sasuke, the further you are from the village, the higher the chance you will be attacked. So, that is why I am threatening your lives should you allow for Hinata to get hurt. I'm talking to you, Sasuke."

"Whatever."

"Is everyone clear on the mission details?"

"Yes, ma'am,"

"Yes, Lady Tsunade,"

"Yes,"

"Good." She paused briefly. "You're dismissed then. Go get some sleep."

* * *

**(1) The song that they will be performing in the next chapter is "Duel" by Bond.**

**Okay, so I didn't like this chapter, and frankly, I hated writing it. However, it was information that was needed for the story line, so there you go.**

**Anyway, I'm already working on the next chapter, and I'm excited about it, along with all the chapters that will come after that. We're really getting into the middle of it now, you guys. Consider the next chapter as the beginning of the end.**

**You don't have to review for this one if you don't want to; I would seriously understand. Although, I will be looking forward to your thoughts after I upload the next chapter. **

**Stay tuned, folks! I'm just getting started.**


	18. Bittersweet

**MERRY CHRISTMAS! Here's my gift to you!**

**Author's Note: **Unless it's vitally important to the chapter you are about to read, I will from now on be posting my author notes at the end. So, if you see something at the beginning, just know that it's important before you start reading. Okay?

**IMPORTANT NOTE: **The songs for this chapter are as follows and are in the same order as they will appear in the chapter: (1) "Duel" by Bond, (2) "Hokage's Funeral Scene" from Naruto, and (3) "Sadness and Sorrow" from Naruto.

Also, my internal playlist for this chapter were the songs "Bittersweet" by Within Temptation and "Wolfen" by E Nomine.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XVII**

**Bittersweet**

* * *

"_Absence weakens mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind blows out candles and kindles fires."_

_- Francois de la Rochefoucauld_

"_I despise a world which does not feel that music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy."_

_-Ludwig Van Beethoven_

* * *

Tears flooded her dirtied face as she fearfully clutched her young child in her arms, protecting the young human with her own body, even as she huddled against a burning house. In fact, everything was burning. The whole village was on fire, but she and her child were the only ones left alive.

It was an easy job—destroying the village that was supposed to be a demon-hunter village, the last one besides the three great allies. Even though it wasn't expressed on his face or even in his thoughts, Itachi felt that it was strange that there weren't very many demon-hunters in the village, or even human civilians for that matter. It was as if most of the village had disappeared…or left. Although, that wouldn't have been the first time.

Itachi reminded himself to discuss it with Madara as soon as he arrived back at Akatsuki.

Before that, though, he had to finish off the last remaining villagers, which just happened to be the mother and her child.

"Please…Please! Please, spare us! Spare my child! I'll do anything, please! Please…" Her voice trailed off into a sob of hopelessness as more tears cascaded down her face, while her arms remained as a vice of protection over her toddler. "Don't hurt my baby…" She continued to cry and beg with her eyes, pleading for just an ounce of pity and mercy.

All Itachi seemed to do in answer to her begging was grip his sword firmly, ignoring how drenched he seemed to be in human blood, as well as how it was starting to agitate his skin as it dried.

Through her endless cries and sobs, Itachi's emotionless expression didn't so much as twitch, which showed just how much he cared for the woman's plea. Not wanting to waste anymore time, he lifted his sword, keeping his eyes on the two, and muttered the last words the mother would hear. "Leave none alive."

In one fluid motion of his arm, more blood splattered the ground and stained his sword, not to mention his clothes.

He didn't move for a moment, only watched as the two bodies slumped to the ground lifelessly, and interestingly enough, the woman was still holding her child to her chest, even in death. If there was any mercy in their deaths, it was in the fact that Itachi had let them die together, mother and child.

As if that really mattered.

All he cared about at the moment was finding some type of pond, river, or lake to wash himself in. It was truly irritating to be drenched with human blood, especially with how often he had to bathe and wash his clothes, as if he didn't already do that enough.

Turning on his heel, he sheathed his sword, and sensed for the nearest water reserve. As soon as he had located one, he began to walk casually in the direction of it, forcefully relaxing the tension in his body with every step he took. The best way to do that, he found, was to focus in on whatever emotions Hinata was feeling at the moment. Without a doubt, he knew that she was still sleeping, especially since the sun was just barely peeking over the horizon.

It wasn't just common sense, though, that led him to that knowledge; it was the utter feeling of peace and tranquility that emanated from her soul—those emotions that he could directly sense and feel through their connection.

It was moments like those that he didn't regret leaving his pendant with her, no matter how distracted her emotions caused him to be whenever she was distressed or chagrined by something or other. Luckily, he hadn't had to deal with feeling fear from her in many years—six to be exact. He had sensed whenever she was nervous about something, or anxious, or excited, and all those times she had felt sympathy and determination.

She switched between more emotions than any being he had ever encountered before in his long life. However, that only made her more unique and interesting in his eyes, and so opposite of himself. She was quite a different creature all together, even for a human, and even though she wasn't exactly _just _a human.

She was Hinata, his innocent little deity…and she was waiting for his return.

For once in a very long time, he was able to know with confidence that the time had finally come when he would be able to return to her home, to the meadow, and refresh his memory with the sight of her.

Only one question had tormented him for all those years of not seeing her. A question that he wouldn't have the answer to until he was able to see her with his own eyes.

How much might she have changed in ten years?

* * *

A few hours after daybreak, the four stood just inside the village walls, rechecking that they had all that they needed for the mission. While Kakashi studied the map and Sasuke and Neji checked the supplies, Hinata busied herself with securing the knot of her cloak and attempting to properly situate the hood over her head.

Kakashi had told them to wear a cloak since it was estimated to rain during their travel. The three men were already wearing theirs, but Hinata hadn't put hers on until they reached the village gates.

It was silent as they prepared for departure, which seemed almost eerie since all was quiet in the village as well, seeing as how the villagers were still asleep. A yawn escaped Hinata's mouth, and her hand automatically reached up to cover it as if to stop it from escaping. She was so tired, and had only woken up not even a half-hour earlier.

It was because of that, that her fingers tried very clumsily to fix her knot. Suddenly, a figure stood before her and two hands waved hers away before tying her cloak securely, fixing her poor attempt at a knot.

Glancing upward, she watched quietly as Neji finished the knot and gently readjusted her hood so that it provided a thin shadow over her face, so that if rain fell, she wouldn't be soaked by it. It wasn't until he finished that his eyes found hers, and they softened as he took in her tired appearance. "Ready?"

She gave the briefest of nods before smiling crookedly, hoping that it was able to provide enough reassurance to her guardian that she was indeed ready to begin.

"No wandering off. Stay by my side the entire time, understand?"

Hinata couldn't help herself from staring at the crease between his furrowed brows, which caused her to reach forward and smooth it with her fingers. "Yes, Neji, I understand."

The crease disappeared under her ministrations, and he reached up to wrap his larger hand around her wrist before placing her palm against his lips. When he pulled away, a smirk was twisting his mouth. "Don't worry. Your energy will return to you when we start our journey. The walking will help."

"I know." Her reply was as soft as a whisper, but couldn't be any louder under the silent circumstances.

Kakashi cleared his throat before calling out to them. "I really hate to interrupt you two love-birds, but we really should get going." He paused, noticing Neji glance back at him and Hinata's cheeks tinge red. "I don't know how bad this storm is going to be, so I'd like to get as much traveling done as we can."

"Understood." Neji replied, holding Hinata's hand in his own. "Let's go, Hinata."

At that, they exited the village's safety and began their long and dangerous trek into the dark and dense forest. A forest that Hinata only remembered as being mysterious.

--

Kakashi had been right about the storm.

At about halfway in their journey, the rain began to fall—slowly at first, and then it poured heavily.

They continued to walk, however, making sure not to break their positions. While Kakashi remained in front, Neji and Hinata walked side-by-side behind him, with Sasuke following up in the back.

So far, the only strange occurrence they had come across was the fact that they had not seen anyone, no travelers, no merchants, no humans at all—and no demons either. As if that wasn't eerie enough, the four of them had remained relatively silent during their mission. Kakashi was the only one who spoke the majority of the time, and that was to provide instructions to the other three.

As of the moment, not a word was spoken among the group. That was, until Kakashi stopped moving and turned back to face them. With a simple motion of his head, they knew that there was no immediate danger present and so each of them moved forward until they were standing in front of the team leader. "What is it?" Neji asked, breaking the silence.

As the rain pelted down on them, Kakashi had to higher his voice so that he could be heard over the storm. "There's a small niche in the mountain not too far from here that we can use as a temporary shelter."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "The storm isn't that bad. We can continue on."

Kakashi gave a discreet glance to the shivering deity before directing his stare back to Sasuke. "We need to take a break. And we're already ahead of schedule, so I think we can spare a short time to eat and rest before continuing."

Neji slipped his hand near Hinata's, grasping onto it firmly, trying to pass warmth into her frozen fingers. "How far are we from the destination?"

"Just another twenty miles and we'll be in the area. At that point, we'll have about a mile in each direction to search in order to find the exact location of the plants."

Before either of the two other men could start complaining, Hinata spoke up, although her shivering made her stutter. "W-We won't h-have to spend that much time s-searching." Her teeth clattered together, even though she was trying to control it. "I'll be able to l-locate it once we get in the a-area."

Each of the men furrowed their brows in confusion as they stared at her. "How will you be able to do that?" Kakashi asked first.

Hinata's shoulders moved in what seemed like a shrug before she answered. "I can search the ground for their l-life-force, s-so it shouldn't be too hard, and it won't take as long." She sniffled.

Kakashi nodded. "That will make it easier. Alright, follow me. We'll take an hour break before continuing on."

None of them made any movements of acknowledgement; they only waited until Kakashi walked ahead before they followed in the same positions they were holding earlier.

When they reached the niche, they realized that it really was just a niche in the mountainside. It definitely wouldn't classify as a cave, since it seemed only large enough for a group of people to squeeze into. Luckily, it was just the four of them, so there was no need for squeezing.

Once they entered into the niche, Kakashi sent Neji and Sasuke to find wood and build a fire. Meanwhile, Hinata curled up against one wall, knees tucked into her chest, as she pulled out a small loaf of bread to chew on.

Kakashi was at the opposite end of the cave, unrolling the map onto the floor and kneeling over it in study.

Sasuke and Neji returned only moments later and immediately began building the fire, not stopping until the flames were roaring and producing enough heat to fill every area of the niche. Sasuke moved to sit down near Kakashi, talking to him about what the plans would be for the remainder of the mission.  
Neji poked at the fire for a little longer until he noticed Hinata finishing with her food and still shivering. "Hinata, come here."

Slowly, she stood and walked over to him, watching as he untied her cloak and put it off to the side before sitting on the ground in front of the fire. He sternly motioned for her to join him, but wouldn't allow for her to merely sit next to him. Eventually, Hinata found herself sitting in-between his legs, facing the fire, with her back warmly nestled against his chest. He waited until she was comfortable before wrapping his arms securely around her, using his hands to rub heat into her cold arms. He leaned over to whisper in her ear, "Better?"

She nodded, relaxing further in his embrace. "Thank you, Neji."

A small tilt found its way to his lips before he murmured in a more intimate tone than he planned. "My pleasure."

Hinata only seemed to shiver in reply, resting her head against his shoulder and keeping her eyes staring dazedly at the burning fire.

Black eyes flashed red for not even a second before disgust overtook his features as he watched the guardian and deity _cuddling _next to the fire. "Of all the people, I had to be stuck on a team with those two…"

Kakashi looked up at Sasuke in question before looking over his shoulder at the couple near the fire. When he turned to face Sasuke again, one brow was raised in curiosity. "You can barely stand anyone else, so I don't see how they're a problem to you. They're quiet and they do their work, so how do you find an issue with that?"

Sasuke scowled. "You call _that _work?" He motioned to the couple, watching as Neji continued to brush his lips against her hair, obviously inhaling whatever scent she carried. Hinata seemed oblivious as usual.

Kakashi smirked beneath his mask. "I think I would have to call that being in love, Sasuke."

The dark-haired young man began to smirk as well. "A bit one-sided, though, it seems."

"Yes…poor Neji." Kakashi replied, making sure that he was keeping his voice low enough so the guardian and deity wouldn't hear him. "I can't imagine how it must feel to love someone, who has no idea about your true feelings. It's even worse that she's the only one who doesn't know."

Sasuke's gaze didn't turn from the dark-haired girl for even a moment. "Kind of a dense one, isn't she?"

"No, I wouldn't say that." Kakashi disagreed with a soft seriousness. "If anything, she's in denial."

Sasuke's eyes flickered away from her to stare at Kakashi in question. "Denial?"

"Yes," Kakashi paused. "From what I've observed, Hinata doesn't seem the type to know how to deal with an admirer. Because of that, she will continue to act and believe that there exists nothing between them but an affectionate friendship. She will purposely blind herself to believing anything more than that."

"Why…?" Sasuke nearly whispered.

"To admit that you are in love or loved by someone is quite a big step to take, and only because it can leave you very vulnerable…to heartbreak, a pain that is quite unlike any other pain that exists…a pain that tears at your very soul…"

Sasuke raised his own brow at the older man. "Observe a lot, do you?"

Kakashi smirked again. "It passes the time."

"Whatever. It's still disgusting." He began to stare at the couple again, noticing how the Hyuga couldn't seem to keep his hands to himself. "It doesn't seem like he's aware of personal boundaries."

"My, my, Sasuke, you sound jealous." Kakashi's tone was filled with amusement, and even more so at Sasuke's reaction.

Sasuke sent a quick scowl in the direction of the team leader. "Don't be an idiot."

"Oh, come now, I could hardly blame you. Hinata was always a cute girl, and now, like the rest of the deities, she's become quite a beauty. No need to feel ashamed for being attracted to her."

Sasuke's lip curled in disgust. "You're a perverted old man."

"I highly resent that comment. I'm not old at all."

"You resent being called old, but not perverted?"

"Well, I resent that, too, but I'd rather not get into the discussion of that."

Sasuke could only shake his head in reply before turning his attention back onto the dark-haired deity. _I'm not attracted to her…She's just different from the others…Like she's hiding a secret…like she knows something that the rest of us don't. And I seem to be the only one who can see that._

Kakashi suddenly stood and announced his presence to the lot of them. "Why don't we all get an hour's of sleep in before restarting our mission. We have a whole afternoon ahead of us, and it would be best if we were all rested for it."

Neji and Hinata nodded before situating themselves into proper resting positions. Only Sasuke stayed where he was, not moving a muscle. Kakashi noticed. "Get some rest, Sasuke."

"I'd rather not."

"You'll need it later."

"I can handle myself. I'll just keep watch."

"Very well then, if you insist. I just hope that this won't effect your performance for the rest of the mission."

Sasuke glared warningly. "It won't."

--

Three hours and fifteen miles later, the rain had stopped pouring, and a few rays of sunshine peaked between the dark, gray clouds. Despite it still being cold, it had warmed up tremendously, to the point where Hinata was tempted to remove her cloak and twirl around and smile up at the sky.

It's not that she hated rain; she just preferred the aftereffects of a storm to the storm itself. For instance, she loved the smell that emanated from the ground and the trees after the rain had stopped, and she loved the way that the sun shone on the dampened foliage. It was beautiful and peaceful, a feeling she hadn't truly felt since she had spent hours in a long lost meadow just outside her home village. What she wouldn't give to be able to travel around in the forest for days and months at a time. Strangely, she felt more at home outside the village than she did inside, and she couldn't help but wonder why that was.

"Neji," Kakashi called back to him from his position next to Hinata. "I was told that you're an expert at tracking."

Neji merely narrowed his eyes fractionally. "Lord Jiraiya has been training me in that field, but I wouldn't agree that I'm an expert."

"Oh? Then what would you be?"

The young guardian paused before answering. "I would have to say that I am proficient."

"Well, that's good enough for me. Come here. I want you to take a look at this and tell me what you think."

Furrowing his brows, Neji glanced at Hinata, gave her hand a squeeze, and ran ahead to walk next to the team leader.

From where Hinata walked, she wasn't able to hear much of anything that they were discussing, but she supposed that it wasn't any of her business either. After releasing a sigh, she continued walking at the same pace they had retained for the entire journey, enjoying the serenity of the trees around her, even though they were walking on a main road.

Slowly beginning to feel the heat absorb into her cloak, she felt the temptation once again to just remove the piece of clothing. Finally deciding to do just that, she reached her hand up to at least begin removing her hood. She hadn't so much as gripped onto her hood before another hand fell over hers, halting her movements. Glancing to her side, she followed the hand, past the arm, and stared directly into onyx eyes. "Sasuke…?"

"Don't remove your hood." He spoke to her quietly, but sternly, never taking his eyes away from her own. "It's too much of a risk, and we don't need to attract attention to ourselves. Should a human or a demon notice us, seeing a deity with us will do just that."

"Oh…Right, I'm sorry."

"Just keep yourself covered."

"I will," She replied and watched as Sasuke continued to walk next to her, hand returned to his side, their conversation clearly ended. Although, she supposed that he was just filling in Neji's spot, knowing that it was Sasuke's duty as well to guard her.

Even though he appeared emotionless, Sasuke felt anything but at the moment. At his side, his hand that had just seconds before been clasped over hers was tingling in the oddest of ways. For those few seconds, he had felt how surprisingly cold her hands were, but also how soft they were, like they had never known a day's hard labor.

Along with his tensed jaw, his hand continued to flex and fist at his side. Hinata, of course, never noticed.

The silent and awkward moment that was shared between Hinata and Sasuke evaporated in a matter of seconds when Kakashi and Neji stopped walking and turned back to face them. The team leader was the one who addressed them. "We're going to get off the main road. There's apparently a trail just a few yards west of us, and it should lead us directly to our destination. When we get close enough, Hinata, I'll need you to find the exact area as you said you could do."

Hinata nodded. "Yes, sir."

Kakashi offered her a smile before turning a meaningful gaze to Neji. "Would you mind having Hinata help you with rechecking our supplies?"

Neji, obviously knowing what Kakashi was hinting at, agreed readily and turned to Hinata, making his expression as disarming as Kakashi's. Without preamble, Neji moved the bags over to the side of the road, taking Hinata with him under the guise of doing a supply check.

Meanwhile, Kakashi motioned for Sasuke to join him and didn't speak until they were kneeling on the ground and out of earshot of the other two. "When I was asking Neji about the trail we'll be taking, we seem to have come across an unusual footprint. We have our guesses, but only you can confirm it."

"Show me."

Still in their kneeling position, Kakashi pointed to a singular footprint amongst many others inlaid in the dirt.

Sasuke dragged his fingers through the dirt where the footprint was, taking some of the dirt between his fingertips. He lifted it to his nose and inhaled its scent before leaning back, while brushing off his hand. During which, he was completely silent. Finding another anonymous footprint, he went through the same dirt ritual, and did it once again with another footprint just a few feet away.

"Well?" Kakashi murmured quietly. "What do you make of it?"

Sasuke stood, brushing the dirt from his hands, and began shaking his head in humorless amusement. "At first, all I smelt was the typical scent of humans, but it was only a remnant…barely there. The most dominant scent that is covering this _human_ trafficking road is actually the scent of demons…a lot of them, too."

Kakashi was inwardly shocked. "How can that be?"

Sasuke didn't reply to his question, but he did speak. "This at least explains why in over fifty miles, we haven't come across one traveling human."

"Something doesn't feel right." Kakashi muttered to himself, not liking what he had come across so far on the mission. Despite that they hadn't been attacked or even caught scent of one demon, it just wasn't right that there were no humans around, especially since the road they were on was usually a very busy road.

"So," Sasuke said, seeming to not be impacted in any way by the recent discovery. "Is that why you chose to get off the main road and take that trail?"

Kakashi was shaking his head before he answered. "No…but it is why we _need _to take that trail." He cleared his throat before calling over to the guardian and deity. "Alright, you two, we're heading out."

--

It was the early afternoon by the time they reached their stopping point. At Kakashi's command, Hinata moved forward to find the exact location of the herbs that they had been searching for. In her usual quiet manner, she knelt on the ground in the dense forest, and placed her palm against the dampened forest floor. Closing her eyes, she focused on every life force within her range, briefly glancing over the trees and the bushes and the small plants that littered the floor.

After hours of studying the medicinal herb, and after having her own experience with the plant in her years of working at the pavilion, she knew exactly what she was looking for.

In what must have felt like hours to the men, Hinata finally leaned back before standing up, replacing her hands to her sides. She turned back to them and smiled successfully. "It's a small area, but there's a lot there."

Kakashi smiled. "Do you mind leading the way?"

"Not at all. It's just through here." With Neji returning to her side, she began to walk in the direction that she knew the plants were located. Just as she had said, they didn't need to go far before reaching a very small clearing where the ground was littered with the medicinal herbs.

After the men had removed the bags that they were to fill, Hinata took them from their possession and offered to do the collecting herself. When questioned why, she told them that they had to be picked a certain way and Lady Tsunade would never forgive them if they brought back useless herbs.

Not exactly wanting to pick the hundreds of plants in the first place, the men readily agreed and stood back, choosing to guard her rather than help her. Kakashi informed them that he would check the perimeter, and disappeared through the trees. In his absence, Sasuke leaped onto one tree branch and leaned against the trunk, one leg pulled up and the other hanging off the branch. Without hesitation, he relaxed against the tree, crossing his arms over his chest and closing his eyes. If he was anything like Gaara, Hinata knew that despite his demeanor, he was actually very alert to their surroundings.

Neji, on the other hand, stayed near Hinata and watched her work by gently plucking the fragile plants and placing them equally as gently into the bags. As time passed, he couldn't help but question. "What are these for, anyway?"

Hinata glanced up at him before continuing her work. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, what are they used for? What do you do with them?"

"Oh," Hinata shifted before answering. "Well, they're medicinal herbs, and they're very rare, as Lady Tsunade said. And, of course, they're rare for a reason. These plants can be made into almost any type of medicine, and cure just about everything. Although, we try not to use it too often, because—"

"They're rare." Neji finished for her.

"Yes," Hinata allowed a smile to fall onto her lips. "Each herb is the equivalent to one dose, but just that one dosage carries many properties that makes it a great medicine. It can act as an anti-coagulant…it can boost the immune system to help speed up the healing process, and…well, it has many uses. But, we try to only use it when there's either a really deep wound or a really bad disease."

Sasuke cracked his eyes open and stared down at her in a somewhat patronizing manner. "Aren't you supposed to be a healer or something? I thought it was your special ability to be able to heal anything, no matter what it is."

"Yes, that's true…" Hinata murmured, not seeing what he was insinuating.

"So, then why are you bothering with some plant when you can just do it yourself."

Neji glared at his supposed team member. "Because she, like the rest of us, is still human, and our energy has limitations. If she were to spend every day healing every single person that came into that pavilion, it would be the equivalent to you wasting your energy for an entire day without a moment's break. Eventually, you would collapse in exhaustion, and most likely cause your own death."

Sasuke grunted before rolling his eyes closed. "Whatever."

Neji continued to glare at him for a moment more before turning his attention back on his deity.

Luckily, by that time, Kakashi had reentered the clearing, but judging by the look in his eyes, whatever he might have come across wasn't good. "Sasuke, Neji, a moment."

The two immediately walked over to him, leaving Hinata in her spot, looking over at them in worry.

Seeing her, Kakashi tried to offer her a reassuring wink. "Nothing to worry about, Hinata. Just need to go over our plans for the return trip."

Hinata nodded and returned to her work, though she knew without a doubt that Kakashi was lying. Something was wrong, but she had to trust them with her safety.

Although, it was extremely difficult to trust them with their own safety, and that's what worried her.

Keeping his voice quiet enough so Hinata wouldn't overhear, Kakashi spoke to the two young men in an urgent tone that didn't betray his usual countenance. "It would appear that there are more demons lurking around in this forest than I originally thought."

Neji's eyes widened. "Were you attacked?"

"No, I…" He cleared his throat. "Neji, I'll need you to come with me. Sasuke, stay here and guard Hinata."

Sasuke emanated his obvious displeasure. "What? Why me? I'm not her guardian—he is! Why do I have to stay and play babysitter?"

Kakashi didn't roll his eyes, or admonish Sasuke, as he usually would have done. Instead, he stepped closer and stared into Sasuke's eyes with a serious intensity. "Sasuke…you are the only one among us who can sense a demon's presence. At this moment, Hinata is safer in your hands than either of ours put together. You need to stay here and guard Hinata…especially since there is a high chance we could be in danger at any moment now. Do you agree, Neji?"

Neji quickly nodded his assent before facing Sasuke with a threat to his words. "Don't let anything happen to her, or it's your head. And I will gladly pull through on that."

Understanding that the situation had become very serious, Sasuke exhaled out of his nose while staring at them in apparent boredom. "Whatever, just go. But I expect to be informed when you return."

Kakashi nodded once and motioned for Neji to follow him back into the dense forestry. When they disappeared, Sasuke turned around only to find himself sharing a look with Hinata, and he could see the question in her eyes. He said nothing, though, and only jumped back up onto his tree branch, resuming his previous position.

Not wanting to worry herself anymore than she already was, Hinata tried to throw her mind into her work, while internally praying that whatever was happening would leave each one of them safe and well.

She really should've known better.

--

"Master Kakashi," Neji said as he and the team leader were trekking through the rough forestry. "What is going on?"

"Keep your voice quiet," Kakashi replied in a whisper. "We can't risk being overheard, especially since demons are known to have exemplary hearing." At seeing Neji's nod of understanding, he continued in the same nearly silent tone. "When I was checking the perimeter, I came across newly made trails…and I know that they weren't made by humans."

"How?"

"Humans usually don't go this far into the forest. The further north we are, the less villages, and those people rarely wander outside of their villages. If they do, they stick to the main roads, and we're not near any main roads."

Neji let that mull over in his mind for a moment before speaking in consternation. "I know that far up north is demon territory, but we're no where near demon territory, are we?"

"No…and that's what bothers me. Just by looking at all the fresh trails and hundreds of footprints, there are more demons treading through this area than is typically usual." Kakashi paused. "Unfortunately, the trails and footprints isn't the worst of it, and it isn't why I brought you with me."

"Then why—" Neji was interrupted by Kakashi outstretching his arm before him, using his other hand to press a finger against his mouth. Understanding that as a sign to be silent, Neji obeyed and made himself ready for battle, should there be one.

Silently and stealthily, Kakashi led Neji hunched over past a few more trees until they stopped before what looked like a wall of bushes or some type of foliage. Offering a quick glance back to Neji, the gray-haired man inched forward and kneeled on the ground before the foliaged wall, motioning for his companion to do the same.

Hesitantly, Kakashi outstretched his hand and quietly parted the branches until he made a small window in the bushes for them to peek through. In confusion, Neji leaned over and gazed through in curiosity, and in only a short few seconds, he paled at what he saw. A jolt of fearful anxiety worked its way like a shiver down his spine. _How…How can this be…? It's not possible!_

Just beyond the bushes, there was a whole camp of demons taking up a very large space—about half a mile in every direction, from Neji's estimation. And the demons…there were so many! Some of them appeared human-like, while the majority of them carried features that could only belong to animals or demons. Some had horns, some had skin in colors of green, blue, and even red, and others seemed so beast-like that Neji could only think of them as hellish creatures, deformed and repulsive.

How could there be so many? Why were they there, and not in their own territory? Just what was going on?

--

Some time had passed, and Hinata found herself staring at a clearing, emptied of its medicinal herbs. She smiled at her accomplishment, and gazed around her in wonder that soon transformed into perplexity upon noticing that Neji and Kakashi had not returned yet. Worry once again began to ravage her emotions.

She sent a glance up to Sasuke, who seemed to be sleeping on a high tree branch, and the sight somehow forced her to collect herself. If Sasuke wasn't worried, then she shouldn't be either. Therefore, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and didn't reopen them until her bodily tension had disappeared…for the most part.

She had to find a way to keep herself occupied until they came back. If she sat still, she would only work herself up into another fit of uneasiness, and she refused to do that.

Her eyes gazed at the two bags next to her, one completely filled with the plants, and the other a little over half-full. A sigh escaped her lips as she passed her eyes over the empty clearing once again, hating how dead it suddenly looked. Without delay, she knelt on the ground, placed her palm against the soil, and closed her eyes in concentration.

With a familiar ease, she allowed a portion of her energy to flow into the veins of the ground, helping the roots of the medicinal herbs to begin growing again. When her eyes opened again, she smiled at seeing small sprouts of green springing from the once dead ground.

But she had discovered something else when she was feeding her energy into the underground root system; more medicinal plants existed and were full grown, ready to be picked. Judging by what else she gathered, Hinata knew that more were located not too far from the clearing she was currently in. It would be simple and time-consuming if she were to go and pick as much as she could to entirely fill the second bag.

The idea was delightful, and she was eager to commence her work, but paused as a thought occurred to her; Neji had explicitly warned her not to wander off.

But…where was the harm? Sasuke was guarding her and he would know right away if she were in trouble. Not to mention, it wasn't like she was going far. She would probably still be in hearing distance from Sasuke, so she would be as good as safe.

No trouble at all, and nothing to worry about. She planned to work quickly and hopefully return before Neji and Kakashi. It wouldn't take her long, and she desperately wanted something to do in their absence.

She was about to call up to Sasuke and alert him to her idea, but eventually figured that he would already know without her having to say anything. If he objected, he would say something and stop her from going; it was that simple, so she tried it.

She grabbed the half-full bag, and made her way out of the clearing, going three and then four yards, noticing that Sasuke hadn't stopped her yet. With a satisfied smile, she knew that she was in the clear and continued walking towards her new destination.

At the moment, she was entirely unaware of the pendant beginning to glow brightly as the blood inside began to heat up in warning.

--

Just as Itachi passed through the entrance to Akatsuki, the demon hideout located inside a giant mountain, he stopped in place as a foreign feeling worked its way through every one of his limbs and raged through his every vein. Though it wasn't strong, it was strange enough to literally stop him in his tracks.

Anonymous demons passed by him without making remarks, without even glancing his way, and at the deepest part of his mind, Itachi knew it was better that way. Being as still and statuesque as he was currently, he would've thought that it would attract attention. Luckily, the upcoming war seemed to be the only occupant of almost every demon's mind.

But it wasn't what occupied Itachi's mind; not at the moment, anyway. Rather, he did nothing else but focus in on identifying whatever the feeling was and where it originated. All he could understand about it was that it made him feel that something was wrong, but the feeling itself wasn't coming from him or his whereabouts.

It had to be coming from Hinata, but her current emotions stated otherwise. In fact, according to her emotions, she was content, if not a little worried about something. Either way, whatever she was doing, wherever she was…something wasn't right, and it was beginning to shake him to the core.

He had to get somewhere quiet; any place where he could concentrate on the feeling and determine its every detail. Not wasting anymore time staying in place, he immediately began walking quickly towards the location of his room, and every demon at Akatsuki had a room of their own.

Fortunately, because Itachi just happened to be one of the leader's favorites, he was given an isolated room that was more like a large chamber, only lighted by candles.

When he finally entered his chamber, though, it was dark and cold, but it didn't matter to him at the moment. He moved to one corner of his room, not bothering to light any candles, and sat down on the icy cold stone floor. Only then did he close his eyes and relax his body so that he could focus his entire being into his pendant and its wearer.

In the deepest recesses of his mind, he could only hope that Hinata wasn't in any danger.

If she was, there was not much he could do to save her, as he had done so long ago with Kisame.

_Hinata…_

--

Despite that no voices were heard, it was not quiet in the new clearing that Hinata occupied. As she sat peacefully, picking the herbs one by one, her ears stayed attuned to the glorious sounds of the active forest.

She smiled serenely upon hearing the tree branches creak and sway, the birds singing their own songs, and the leftover raindrops dripping from leaf to leaf. She couldn't help but think how beautiful the forest was, and it only enhanced her desire of wanting to call it home. It felt so much like home, like a safe haven, even though it really wasn't.

"Well, well, would you look at that." A raspy voice interrupted her once peaceful moment.

Snapping her shocked attention to the source of the voice, she espied two figures that she knew without a doubt were demons. That knowledge sent a ravaging shiver of fear up and down her spine.

"See?" The other demon spoke up, showing his own voice to be deep and gravelly. "I told you I smelled food."

"And what great food it is. It's been awhile since I've had a human meal, and she looks to be a tasty one too." He paused, watching with predatory eyes as Hinata slowly stood up, abandoning her bag of herbs. Not once did she break eye contact with them, even though her body was tense and her hands were shaking. This only caused for the raspy demon to laugh heartily. "Look at her—she's terrified!"

The other demon joined in his laughter. "Don't worry, sweetheart. We'll make your death nice and quick. You won't feel a thing."

"The more we're sittin' here and talkin' about it, the hungrier I'm getting. Let's eat!"

Hinata inhaled sharply at seeing them start to charge her. A scream was working its way out of her mouth, but was halted upon seeing both demons stop in their tracks. Actually, it was the gravelly-voiced demon that stopped and suddenly held his demon partner back as well, preventing both of them from taking a step further.

As Hinata watched them, she noticed that the deep-voiced demon was staring at her with wide eyes and a tense jaw, his muscles flexing as if in preparation.

Despite his reaction, it was the other demon who spoke up in obvious anger and irritation. "What the hell are you doing? Let go of me so I can eat!"

"No!" he argued, his deep voice taking on a threatening and deadly tone. He audibly gulped, causing for his tone to change into something that resembled caution. "Don't you sense that?"

"Sense what? What the hell are you talking about?"

"That power, you fool! I sense a huge amount of demon energy coming from her, and it's way too dangerous. We need to forget about this human girl and just leave! We'll find food elsewhere!"

"Listen to yourself!" the raspy demon pulled back in outrage. "She is a _human _girl. Do you disagree with that?"

"No, but—"

"She is not a demon! She can't pose any threat to us, so get over it."

Just as he was beginning to walk forward, the other demon stopped him again. "Don't! We need to leave. Something's really off about this whole situation. I don't know what it is, but I know what I'm sensing, and we are in danger!"

"Don't be an idiot! It's just food, and whether she has power or not, she's no threat to us." He paused to analyze his future meal before continuing. "And I'd like to eat our scared little bunny before it runs away."

"Still doesn't feel right…"

"It will when you're done eating, so help me kill our food."

Hesitantly, the demon nodded in agreement, and their attention turned back to Hinata.

For her part, she could feel her fear coursing through her veins, seemingly paralyzing her. She couldn't move, couldn't blink, couldn't think…even breathing was proving difficult.

Kakashi and Neji were the goddess only knows where, and Sasuke…Where was Sasuke? Didn't he know she was in trouble? Where was he?

Amidst all the confusion and overwhelming fear, Hinata felt a hurtful burning against her chest, where the pendant touched her skin, as if trying to ignite some motion into her body.

Her whole body was shaking, but she couldn't seem to move her feet and run—she couldn't even scream, and she was trying so hard.

The demons were converging on her, licking their teeth and lips and extending their claws for attack.

Only whimpers seemed to escape her lips, though they were practically silent. "Neji? Sasuke? Master Kakashi…? Someone…" _Itachi! Itachi, help me!_

_**Hinata…**_

Somewhere deep in her unconscious, his voice resounded in her mind, sounding as calm and detached as she remembered.

**_Hinata…You need to run…_**

The burning at her chest seemed to increase dramatically, and although it was painful, it was beginning to take the numbing sensation away from her body.

**_Run, Hinata…Now!_**

In one fluid movement, the two demons charged toward her with inhuman speed, stretching their claws to slice through her.

This was it. Was she going to die?

**_Hinata, run!_**

--

Sasuke woke up startled, gasping as he sat up and regained his balance so he wouldn't fall off the tree branch. Somehow, and he wasn't sure when, but he had fallen asleep. Hinata had been so quiet and the sounds of the forest seemed to lull him to sleep.

He hunched over, rubbing his palms into his eyes, forcing his body to fully awaken.

And then he remembered why he had woken up in such a fashion.

He sensed demons, two of them, and they were close. They were weak, but demons nonetheless, and Sasuke had to get alert and ready to protect Hinata if they approached.

Clearing his throat and blinking a few times, he glanced below him to the empty clearing, frantically searching with his eyes for the one person that he didn't see, the very person that he was supposed to be protecting.

She was gone. Hinata was gone, but where?

And then he heard it…The very sound that sent chills through every fiber of his being…the kind of sound that made his stomach feel like it was collapsing.

Hinata screamed, and the harsh sound reverberated among the trees.

"Shit!"

With widened eyes, Sasuke leaped to the ground, only pausing to regain his footing before sprinting towards the sound. "Shit, shit, shit!"

_Get there in time…Get there in time…I need to get there in time!_

--

It felt as though Itachi's soul had combined with hers for that moment in time when the absolute fear was rippling throughout her entire body. Every emotion that passed through her, he felt with intensity.

It made his fists clench and anger to swarm within his mind. For the first time in his long life, he wanted vengeance. He wanted to run to wherever she was and destroy whatever foolish creatures chose to pick her as prey. If only he were there…there would be quite a debt to pay, and he would definitely make those demons pay with their own blood. Mercy would never even be a thought in his mind.

Fear…alarm…dread…horror…panic…foreboding…trepidation…hopeless longing…

All these she felt and more, and he could feel how it was ripping her apart with her own tears. He could feel her heart begging, screaming for help.

She was grieved with the admittance that she was going to die, and it seemed to be killing them both.

It took immense strength to force himself to push her emotions aside and focus on trying to save her despite the tremendous distance between them. After all, he gave her that blood diamond for a reason, and it wasn't just to be able to check up on her time and again.

Concentrating all his efforts on his connection with Hinata through the pendant, he began to transfer as much of his power to it as he could. No matter how mindless the attackers were, they would eventually feel the power and would not dare come near her. To them, she would be on fire, an invisible barrier that would burn them if they got too near.

The only disadvantage to such a trying experience would be the fact that he would be using Hinata's body as a catalyst for his power, and if he did it perfectly, she wouldn't be drained too much.

Either way, it was a risk that he would have to take if it meant that she would be safe in the end.

--

It wasn't until they were somewhat safely away from the demon camp that Neji finally broke the silence between him and Kakashi. "We're not in demon territory. How is it that they have a camp stationed in this area?"

"I don't know…" Kakashi couldn't comprehend it either as they both walked slowly back towards the clearing.

"How is it that not one human has discovered them? Surely with all the villages around here, some would find out about this and report it to Konoha or our other two allies. I don't understand how this…could be happening."

"I don't either, Neji. To be honest, this whole situation makes me anxious." He paused for only a moment. "From my experience, I know that the humans around here usually stay out of the forest, but there are demon hunters who still scout these forests in order to protect their villages. In that case, I would've suspected that at least one demon hunter was able to get away alive and report this to us."

"Yes, but you have to take into account that we haven't come across one human during this entire mission, which is strange, don't you think?"

"Very much so. I can't help but wonder what is going on. I have no choice but to talk to Lord Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade about this. If circumstances are worse than I'm thinking then perhaps no one should leave the village for awhile…not until we sort this out."

"Master Kakashi," Neji murmured gravely. "It doesn't matter how much Hinata was able to gather or complete…We need to leave now. We need to head back to the village as soon as possible. And we need to try to take a road as far away from the demons as we can. I'm not going to risk Hinata's safety for anything."

"I understand that, Neji, but…" Kakashi paused, deep in thought. "The reality of it is…is that Hinata's safety is already in jeopardy. We can't afford to linger here any longer. If we do, we can most assuredly count on being attacked by demons, and I'd rather avoid that."

Neji nodded and opened his mouth to verbally agree, but was cut off as a familiar sound reached his ears, making him stop in place.

Kakashi, too, seemed to hear the sound and slowed his pace to a halt, tilting his head as if he would re-hear the sound.

None of that happened, but it didn't need to. The sound itself was too familiar, too heart-wrenching.

Neji just heard Hinata's scream fill the air. His eyes widened, his skin turned pallid, and he gulped in panic. "No…"

"Was that…Hinata?"

Neji couldn't hear Kakashi, and the only thing he could feel was utter agony at the prospect of her being attacked or in danger, a fact he knew to be true. "No…No!"

All at once, Kakashi watched as Neji darted off into a sprint, running as fast as he could towards the origin of Hinata's fearful scream. "Neji! Damn it…not good." The gray-haired man began to run after him, knowing in his gut that he had been right about Hinata's safety already being in jeopardy.

Kakashi cursed under his breath. If anything happened to Hinata, Lady Tsunade was going to kill him…That is, if he lived through the next few moments.

--

Hinata could feel her legs burning from the strain of having ran so far and for what felt like so long. However, the adrenaline was pumping through her veins at an alarming rate, but it didn't detract from the ever-growing burning that was spreading under her skin, boiling her blood.

Her breathing was harsh and she was becoming tired, but she couldn't stop running. She didn't know where the two demons were; all she could think to do was literally run for her life.

She quickly glanced behind her to see if she was being followed, and in that short moment when her hair was whipping about her face, she saw nothing but the trees. Her pace slowed down and when she turned around to face front again, she screamed again before running into the menacing demon with the raspy voice.

His hands sped forward to grip her arms in a vice, but in her panic, she flung away from him only to stumble on the ground.

Her hands dug into the dirt as her feet worked on pulling herself back up so she could continue running. She wasn't fast enough, though, since the same demon gripped her on her waist and threw her across the area.

With a great amount of force, Hinata landed on the ground with an aching thud, crying out at the lightning-fast pain that seemed to pierce her back.

Quicker than she thought possible, the two demons were in her line of sight, standing only a few yards away from her crumpled form.

As Hinata rolled onto her stomach and began to sit up, she was automatically sending her own energy to heal whatever had been damaged or torn within her body. As if she wasn't exhausted already, for some strange reason that she didn't dwell upon for long, she could feel her energy disappearing as if into thin air. It was so hard to move, and she hated how her tears were the only sign of her frustration and agony.

Gradually, she sat up with her legs partially curled under her and her arms being the only thing holding her up and keeping her balance. She watched as her arms shook viciously, and in turn, her fingers dug into the dirt before forming into a fist.

She felt so sick and she had the hardest time just trying to keep her eyelids open. With painstakingly slow movements, she managed to turn her head back to facing the two demons that were slowly coming toward her.

Her head lowered in defeat upon realizing that her time was at an end. She made the stupid decision to go off on her own, and this was her punishment. She should've known better…She should've listened to Neji. Now, because she hadn't, her life would come to an end.

The foremost thought on her mind was the regret that she would never see Itachi again. She supposed that he didn't have to worry about his promise to her anymore. _Itachi…I'm sorry…Please don't forget me…_

Suddenly, the deep-voiced demon stopped in his tracks, visibly refusing to not go any further. The other demon didn't seem to care and continued forward until he was a mere two feet away from reaching his next meal. At that point, he yelped loudly at being overwhelmed by an incredible power…an incredible _demonic _power, and it was so powerful that it literally forced him to stumble back in fear. Not only that, though…He was in pain, complete and utter agony, like he was being burned alive.

His grating screams filled the air as he frantically ran away from her, only to stop next to the other demon, who hadn't moved a muscle during the entire time. However, he did speak once he began to move, and in a panic as well. "I told you! I told you that she was dangerous! She's being protected—that's what it is! She's being protected by a demon, I know it!"

The other demon didn't seem to hear, seeing as he was still thrashing about in pain.

"Come on, let's go! We need to get away from here!"

"I don't think so." His voice was smooth, but there was an obvious threatening tone present.

The one aware demon turned to face the newcomer, only to see a young man with red eyes and a certain demon scent that carried with him.

Hinata slowly turned to the newcomer as well, and felt relief wash over her in waves at seeing her savior. A weak smile made its way onto her lips, followed by a laugh mixed with a sob. "Sasuke…" And with that, her energy left her, causing her to collapse to the ground in unconsciousness.

Sasuke, however, only kept his eyes on the two demons ahead of him. "And you call yourselves demons. I'm more of a demon than the two of you combined could ever hope to be. But don't worry, I'll be sure to put you out of your misery and end your sad existences."

Not a second was wasted before Sasuke charged them with amazing speed and agility, stopping before them, and disappearing before their very eyes. While the raspy-voiced demon was still insanely raging, the other demon looked about frantically, trying to locate his opponent.

It was all in vain, though, once the dark-haired half-breed appeared just behind the demon, forcing his lightning-engulfed hand through the demon's chest. Not a word escaped the creature's lips before the lifeless body fell to the forest ground, his blood soaking into the soil.

Sasuke stared down at the body as the lightning faded from his hand. The moment was interrupted by the other demon's shrieks of pain. Sasuke dragged his blood-red eyes over to the thrashing demon in a bored fashion, taking note of the demon's strange behavior.

Rolling onto the ground, the demon continued to scream in agony. "I'm burning! The fire! Get the fire off of me! It burns! It burns!"

Sasuke's brows furrowed in puzzlement. "Fire?" As far as he could see, there wasn't any fire, so how could the demon be burning? Maybe he was just insane, or…had Hinata done something to him? Narrowing his eyes decisively, Sasuke strode forward and knelt on the ground before the demon, stretching his hand out to grip around the demon's throat.

While the demon writhed in place, only being held down by Sasuke's grip, he felt his life disappearing rapidly. As each second ticked by, Sasuke tightened his grip while the demon clawed at his hands in panic.

The torture lasted for a few more minutes until finally the demon went limp, his terrified eyes gazing at nothing. Only when Sasuke no longer felt a pulse did he pull away, standing up fluidly. _They really were weak…What a pair of pathetic creatures, not even worth my time._

With the deed done, Sasuke turned around and stared across the area at the unconscious form of Hinata. Panicking inwardly, Sasuke ran towards her, dropped to his knees before her, and began to reach his hand out. However, his eyes widened as he seemed frozen to his spot, confounded by the large amount of power emanating from her body. What was even more confounding was that it made him feel afraid, like he shouldn't be near her, like he should be far away from her because she was dangerous. _What…What is this? This feeling…Is this Hinata? Is this Hinata's doing? How can she have this kind of power? _

It was even more alarming at the fact that the power itself seemed familiar to him like a distant memory. Deep within the confines of his mind, he felt that he knew this power, that he had felt it before. But where? From whom?

"Hinata!" Neji ran into the clearing, ignoring everything else besides his deity. At seeing her motionless form huddled on the ground, he felt his heart stop in anguish.

Sasuke quickly backed away, allowing Neji to fall to the ground on his knees before Hinata's body. His red eyes had faded back to black as he gazed dazedly at Neji cradling Hinata in his arms, checking her pulse and listening to her breathing. Like Neji, Sasuke seemed to be completely unaware of Kakashi's presence at his side.

It was only when Neji confirmed that Hinata was alive and well—albeit unconscious—that he turned back to Sasuke with eyes full of hatred. "Where were you? What were you doing? You were supposed to be protecting her!"

"Calm down, Neji. Hinata's fine." Kakashi muttered, silencing the Hyuga, who returned his full focus on his precious deity and ineffectively trying to wake her. Seeming disinterested, Kakashi turned about and surveyed the scene, locking eyes on the two dead demons not too far away. Facing Sasuke, Kakashi spoke quietly. "Just the two demons?"

Sasuke nodded mutely. "They were weak…A simple kill."

"Then what's bothering you?"

"Nothing."

"Hinata's fine, Sasuke. You didn't fail, if that's what you're worried about."

"That's not it." He replied in a clipped voice.

"Then what is?"

Sasuke was quiet, lowering his head in thought before shaking it and turning away. "I don't know yet."

"Alright. Then why don't you gather up the bags and we'll get out of here." Kakashi saw Sasuke nod and disappear into the trees. At that time, the team leader's attention was brought back to the couple, seeing that Hinata's eyes were slowly opening.

Neji smiled in relief as his gaze met hers. "Hinata…"

When she opened her mouth to speak, her voice was hoarse. "Neji,"

"Are you hurt?"

"No…I'm okay…Really tired, and…it's hard to move."

Neji nodded quickly, readjusting her body so that one arm was under her knees and the other around her back. "We're going home. You just rest and go back to sleep, okay? You'll be in your bed before you know it."

"Okay…" Her eyes began to drift closed again as exhaustion once again took over.

Neji stood with Hinata cradled against his chest, his brows furrowed in concern. "I'm so sorry." He whispered, knowing that she hadn't heard him.

"Neji," Kakashi approached him, resting his hand on the young man's shoulder. "Hinata's fine. You heard her yourself. She's just tired, and rightly so after what she just went through. Overall, though, she is just fine."

"I know…" Neji replied, letting his disappointment leak into his words. "But she might not have been…If we hadn't gotten here in time, if Sasuke hadn't gotten here in time—"

"But he did, and it's because of that, that Hinata is safe and well. Don't waste your time beating yourself up about it. If anything, you need to focus on getting her back to Konoha."

"Right,"

"And, since I'm guessing she's going to be carried at least most of the way, I'll make sure that we all take turns with her. We can't afford that two of our team members collapse with exhaustion."

"Understood. Let's just go."

--

Itachi opened his eyes, waiting for it to feel like his soul had returned to his body, and the connection to return to just a side-thought.

Hinata was safe. She wasn't harmed. Only one of the demons had been stupid enough to get too close, and he ended up suffering from the repercussions. That was just as well. The ignorant demon should've known better than to dare approach his protected deity.

A knock sounded at his chamber door, disrupting his train of thoughts.

One of the leader's guards stood at the threshold. "Lord Madara has requested your presence."

Itachi didn't reply verbally; he just turned on his heel and walked out of his room, following the guard to Madara's "thrown room". All Itachi had left to do was report to Madara about the mission's success, and then he would be able to start his journey back to Konoha and back to the very person he hadn't seen in ten years.

Itachi couldn't wait to get it all over and done with, even though his expression didn't betray his inner thoughts.

After traversing the long tunnels, Itachi and the guard finally approached the large double doors leading to Madara's headquarters, and upon entering, Itachi saw the demon himself seated leisurely on his dark, stone throne. Resting his hand lazily on his upraised fist, Madara stared at his guest with calculating red eyes. His once indifferent expression changed immediately into a pleased smirk. "You should know better than to keep me waiting, Itachi."

"I didn't think I was."

Madara's smirk grew as he stood up and began walking across the large room. "You arrived here and instead of coming to report to me first, you went to your chamber. Did this mission exhaust you?"

"Of course not. I had other business to attend to first."

"Ah, I see. I am now aware of how your own leader is ranked on your list of priorities."

Itachi didn't reply; he just stayed silent, keeping his watchful gaze on said leader.

"So…" Madara began. "In regards to your mission, need I even ask?"

Itachi answered anyway. "It was a success…"

Madara's eyes narrowed imperceptibly. "But?"

Raising his chin upward a fraction, Itachi continued. "I think it might have happened again."

"Happened…What happened?" His smirk disappeared, and he had become the demon leader incarnate.

"The village was known to be a demon-hunter village. By the time I had finished, I had only killed eleven."

"Were you expecting more?"

"There should have been more. There should have been more civilians as well."

"But there weren't." Madara finished for him, looking away as if in thought. "Why would you think that's strange?"

Itachi didn't reply for a moment as if wondering why the leader was asking him such a ridiculous question, as if he didn't already know why. "Judging by the amount of houses that were no where near the state of abandonment, it looked as though the majority of the village had disappeared…or left."

"If that's the case, then that would make that the fifth village to have done so. Except, this village is different. This one still had residents; whereas, the others were completely empty." Madara met eyes with Itachi. "What would you make of that?"

Itachi didn't hesitate, for he had spent time thinking about it as well. "I've decided that it could either be one of two options. The first possibility is that the village knew about an upcoming attack and planned to leave. The first wave of villagers had already left, and I attacked the second wave before they had a chance to leave."

"That's plausible and likely. What about the other possibility?"

"Some humans tend to get very attached to their homes, no matter what disaster might come their way. It's possible that those who wanted to escape the soon-to-be attack left before I arrived. Those humans who refused to leave their homes chose to stay and allow themselves to be killed because of it."

"Again, very plausible, but I don't care for either options. In fact, what concerns me most is _how _these humans became aware of our movements and agenda. _How _were they warned?"

Whether his leader wanted an answer or not, Itachi spoke up in addition. "We have destroyed countless villages in the past years. Perhaps one of the villages managed to send word to other villages about what we are up to."

Madara exhaled in obvious agitation. "Well, then, if humans are travelling and escaping from their fates, then we will need to simply stop them. Should any of them reach any of the three allied villages, our war will come premature, and we can't allow that."

"What are you suggesting?"

"I will send word to the armies and have them scout the forest and the rest of the land for any refugees. This land is ours now, and no human shall trespass and get away alive." Madara was silent for a few minutes before breathing deeply and staring at Itachi again, his easy smirk returning. "Don't worry yourself over it. This will be none of your concern for awhile."

"You're holding to your promise?" Itachi questioned doubtfully.

"Of course! What kind of leader would I be if I couldn't keep a promise to one of my prized warriors?" At seeing Itachi's still doubtful silence, Madara continued seriously. "When you leave Akatsuki, consider yourself on vacation. You are welcome to go anywhere you wish, as long as you promise to hold up your end of the bargain."

Itachi nodded. "I'm freed of your command until the attack on Konoha. Understood."

"Good. Then there's nothing left to be said. You're free to go."

Those were the fated words that Itachi had longed to hear for the past ten years. At long last, it was finally happening. He was finally allowed to return.

Itachi lowered his head tensely before turning on his heel to leave the throne room. He was stopped, however, by Madara who called out to him.

"Oh, Itachi, before you go, I have one last order."

Itachi stopped and waited.

Madara smirked sadistically. "Find your pendant. I expect to see it in your possession the next time we meet."

"Yes, sir."

"You can go now. I'll be seeing you shortly."

As Itachi left the room and began heading towards the exit to Akatsuki, he couldn't help thinking in his mind that he hoped he wouldn't be seeing the leader as "shortly" as he implied.

After all, Itachi had a lot of time planned to reacquaint himself with Hinata.

* * *

"Good goddess, what happened?" Tsunade exclaimed upon seeing the four team members walk into the main entryway of the temple, with the sleeping Hinata being carried by Kakashi.

"What?" Kakashi muttered with amusement. "Do I look that exhausted? Well, the trip back wouldn't have been so tiring if Sasuke just would've taken a turn at carrying Hinata. But he blatantly refused."

Sasuke scowled, laying one of the filled bags onto the floor. "I told you, I don't want her anywhere near me. She's not my burden to carry." Internally, though, he knew he wouldn't have really minded carrying her, but it was the simple fact that he couldn't. The entire time she was unconscious, it was extremely difficult just being close to her with that burning power that radiated from her body. It was painful for him, but he couldn't understand exactly why Kakashi or Neji didn't notice it. It couldn't have been just because he was a half-demon, right?

"That's not what I meant!" Tsunade continued in a rage. "Did I not warn you to keep her safe and unharmed?"

"You did, and we succeeded."

"It sure as hell doesn't look like it, Kakashi! Now, for the last time, what in the goddess' name happened?"

Kakashi's countenance suddenly turned serious. "I'll explain later. Just know that Hinata is fine, if not a little tired. No harm came to her whatsoever, and you can check for yourself if you don't believe me."

Tsunade calmed down and narrowed her eyes, even though her tone remained deadly threatening. "Fine. You all arrived earlier than expected, which is good and convenient. Neji, take Hinata to her room, and then I want you and Sasuke to go get some rest before dinner. The deities' performance is after dinner, so I want you all to be awake enough for that. Am I clear?"

"Yes, ma'am." Neji replied, taking Hinata from Kakashi's arms and carrying her down the hallway.

Sasuke didn't utter a word as he, too, walked down the hallway, heading for his own bedroom.

Tsunade turned around herself, seeing Jiraiya next to her and Kurenai standing not too far off with a worried look about her. "Kurenai," The matriarch addressed the dark-haired woman. "Go to Shizune and ask her to make up something for Hinata so that she'll have enough energy for tonight."

"Right away, ma'am."

After the woman departed, Tsunade turned her attention back onto Kakashi, who really did look exhausted. Out of the corner of her eye, she also saw the two bags off to the side, and they looked very full. "Was the mission a success?"

"Yes, Hinata collected as many medicinal herbs as she could."

Jiraiya smiled crookedly. "Looks like she grabbed every single herb that existed."

"Almost." Kakashi attempted to appear as calm as he sounded, although it was difficult just to keep his eyes open.

"So, what happened? Were you attacked?" Tsunade asked somberly.

"Hinata was, but Sasuke arrived just in time before any harm could come to her."

"And where were you and Neji at the time?"

Kakashi hesitated before replying, his eyes narrowing in confusion. "We…were scouting the area. And…we came across something quite unexpected."

"What?" Tsunade's voice lowered in pitch.

"We discovered a camp that was hosting an entire army of demons…and not too far from our mission destination."

"What?" Tsunade's eyes widened, and her face contorted into anger.

Jiraiya was obviously shocked. "How can that be? You were nowhere near demon territory."

"I know, and that's what bothered me. That's why we hurried back, so that we could not only get as far away from danger as possible, but to also inform you about this new occurrence." Kakashi sighed and lowered his head. "Whatever is going on, it doesn't bode well for the human race."

"No, it doesn't seem to." The matriarch murmured to herself, as she seemed to go into deep thought about the situation.

Jiraiya was the one who ended the conversation. "Why don't you go get some rest, Kakashi. We'll meet with the village leader tomorrow morning, and we'll need you to come with us."

"Yes, sir. I'll see you at dinner in a few hours."

* * *

Kurenai knocked on Hinata's bedroom door before opening it and peeking around. "Hinata? Are you awake, sweetie?"

Hinata silently groaned as she turned over in her bed and smiled tiredly at her teacher. "Yes, Miss Kurenai."

The red-eyed woman entered into the room and stopped before Hinata's bedside with a cup of steaming liquid in one hand. As she sat on the side of Hinata's bed, she offered up the drink. "Shizune made this for you to drink."

Hinata struggled to sit up before taking the cup into her hands. "What is it?"

"Don't worry, it should be good. It's meant to reenergize you. Although, I should warn you…You'll feel full of energy for three or four hours, and once it wears off, you'll be even more fatigued than you are now. You'll sleep so soundly that you won't even dream."

"Oh…" Hinata tentatively sipped at the liquid, remarking on how it tasted like sweet tea. "Mmmm…."

Kurenai smiled maternally. "Rest and relax for awhile. I'll send someone to bring you something to eat, so don't worry about having to attend dinner tonight."

Hinata leaned forward eagerly. "Wait, what about the performance?"

Kurenai sighed. "I really wish that we could just do it tomorrow night. I'm sure you could use the extra rest—"

"No, please. I don't want to cancel it. I'd really like to go through with it—I'm fine, really." She sipped heartily at her energizing drink.

Kurenai looked the face of disappointment. "Alright." She stood up from the bed and walked towards the door, but stopped before exiting. "I'll have Temari come get you when she's finished, so you all can practice before everyone's done with their meal."

"Okay, thank you, Miss Kurenai."

The older woman nodded with a smile before leaving the room.

Only then did Hinata temporarily put aside her drink and move her hand to grip around the diamond hanging against her chest. It no longer burned as she remembered, and she was beginning to wonder about the whole situation.

Why had it been burning?

Why did it continue to increase its burning when she was running from the demons?

Most importantly, why did it manage to keep the demons away from her? What had happened?

Then, she recalled what Itachi had told her so long ago on the night of his departure. He had told her to always wear the pendant and keep it against her skin. There was something else he said, too.

"_**It will protect you when I am unable to."**_

Was that what had happened? The pendant sensed danger and used its power to protect her, and it was powerful enough to keep the demons from coming near her when she was at her weakest and most vulnerable.

Her hand closed tightly around the diamond while her eyes began to carry a far-off look. _Itachi…Thank you…_

* * *

A few hours later, Temari came to grab Hinata and walk with her to the music room, where the other deities were waiting, along with Kurenai. Hinata had thought that they would go right into practicing, but was caught by surprise when Ino, Sakura, and Tenten ambushed her before bombarding her with excited questions.

"Is it true?"

"Were you really attacked by demons?"

"How'd you escape?"

"Sasuke saved her, duh!"

"Oh, he's so perfect."

"What?"

"Oh, come on, you know it's true. I mean, I love Lee and would never leave him for anybody, but that doesn't change the fact that Sasuke is as cool as they come."

"That's so true!"

"Would you two shut up!" Tenten intervened. "I want to hear about what happened to Hinata." The brunette faced Hinata eagerly. "So? What happened?"

Hinata felt her cheeks flush as all attention seemed focused on her. "Um…well, we were attacked…Or, I guess I was attacked. Master Kakashi and Neji were gone, and Sasuke was protecting me, but I wandered off, and—"

"How many demons were there?" Tenten interrupted.

"Um, two, but—"

"Two demons!" Ino practically yelled in awe.

Sakura leaned forward in a conspiratorial whisper. "Were they scary-looking?"

Hinata nodded and opened her mouth to say more, but was interrupted once again. This time, by Ino.

"So, what'd you do when you saw them?"

"I ran, but they caught up to me, and—"

Sakura smiled. "That's when Sasuke showed up, huh?"

"Well, yes…" Hinata answered bashfully. "But I don't remember much after that."

"So…" Tenten spoke up. "The demons didn't hurt you at all?"

"One of them threw me across the clearing, but other than that, no."

"Wow." Ino shook her head. "You are one lucky girl. I mean, if it weren't for Sasuke, you'd probably be dead by now."

Kurenai approached the small group. "That's enough. You're wasting time badgering Hinata when you should be practicing. Everyone will arrive here in less than fifteen minutes, so I suggest you get in one more practice run before, understand?"

Slouching over in disappointment, the three girls replied glumly, "Yes, ma'am."

Hinata watched the girls return to their places, and she was about to herself when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Glancing back, she saw Temari gazing at her in concern.

"Are you sure you're alright? It sounds like those demons busted you up pretty bad."

Hinata shook her head. "Not at all. I mean, I was hurt, but I healed myself, and," Hinata giggled. "I think that's why I'm so tired. I used up all my energy running and healing myself. But I'm as good as new now, I promise."

"Okay, just take it easy. I don't want you collapsing during the performance."

"I won't." Hinata smiled softly at her older friend before Kurenai ordered them to take their places and start their last practice.

Exactly fifteen minutes later, the temple residents began filing into the room, taking seats facing the performing deities. Frankly, Hinata was nervous, as she always was when performing for the others. When she caught gazes with Neji, however, she felt better upon seeing his encouraging smile to which she returned shyly. It was almost like the mission had never happened, like she had never been attacked by demons. She was home.

Meanwhile, Kurenai talked to the small, familiar crowd, announcing that the song was inspired by the fights between Ino and Sakura, and that the deities composed it on their own. She also talked about Hinata's short solo at the end, which only drew more attention to her, making her lower her head to try to hide her burning cheeks. As if she wasn't nervous about that already, Kurenai just had to mention it to everyone there.

Finally, Kurenai motioned for the deities to begin, and Hinata's anxiety turned into concentration.

Positioned in the back of the room, Hinata watched Sakura since she was the first to begin. The pink-haired deity provided a basic rhythm before Ino came in with a catchy flute solo. When that died off, Hinata quickly plucked her strings while Tenten and Temari stole the crowd's attention by dancing in a way that resembled a duel.

Then Sakura and Ino moved forward with Sakura playing her violin. Ino seemed to interrupt with her own instrument, copying the same tune Sakura played. Back and forth, the two deities played their instruments, fighting against each other with music, while at the same time, complimenting the overall piece.

This went on for a minute or so before Hinata broke in by plucking her strings again. It only seemed to escalate from there as Tenten and Temari continued their dance while Sakura and Ino played together before playing separately again. All the while, Hinata would break in from time to time.

The same sequence continued for a few more minutes, and finally, all of them were performing at the same time, together. The whole song was amazing, and it had Hinata smiling with excitement at every note played. Unfortunately, Hinata knew that the end was coming since Ino and Sakura were performing their intense solos. Because of that, she prepared herself to immediately start her solo once the last notes had faded.

That time came all too quickly, and there was only a brief moment of silence before Hinata's fingers began gliding over the strings, plucking them in a gentle rhythm. The song itself was solemn and seemingly filled with grief. However, it held an underlying feeling of hope and comfort, that seemed to enchant everyone listening.

Neji couldn't keep his eyes off of her, and even Sasuke seemed interested. Although, the half-demon Uchiha was interested for an entirely different reason than the deity's guardian. While Neji appeared pleased and focused on his deity overall, Sasuke couldn't keep from looking at her expression and her eyes, which were even more expressive. It was as if she was playing alone, as if there was no one watching her, and only then was he able to see it.

He had seen it many times before, but it still intrigued him after all those years. Deep within her moonstone eyes, he could see an unbearable sadness, an emotion that matured her beyond her years. Once again, he couldn't help feeling privy to her deep secrecy, like he was the only one who could see her hidden emotions.

Unbeknownst to Sasuke, he wasn't the only one. In fact, it was only Gaara who could see her sadness and know the real reason behind it. As he watched from the back of the room, he knew without a doubt in his mind that she was thinking about _him_.

How could she not?

It was a full moon, after all, and he knew to expect to hear her playing that unique song when all had gone to bed. Normally, he would appear in her room when she was playing, and keep her company until she fell asleep. Tonight, however, would be different. Although he didn't know the reason, he did know that something was weighing heavily on her mind, and she needed time to herself. It was not only that, though; he also could see clearly how completely fatigued she was. There would be no time for talking tonight, but that was fine. She deserved a little time to herself, unless she wanted otherwise, of course.

The song was short, but fulfilling and a wonderful end to the performance. It somehow left everyone feeling content as they dispersed to their bedrooms to go to sleep. Hinata did the same, taking her harp with her, being fully aware of the certain moon phase that night.

Every full moon night, Hinata seemed to have developed a certain routine. She would enter her bedroom, set her harp by the balcony, change into her nightgown, and pull back her bedding. Only then would she habitually walk towards her harp, sit down on the chair placed before it, and rest her fingers against the many strings.

The balcony curtains were open and playing in the wind, but did not deter the moonshine from gliding into her room and alighting her instrument and herself. A long sigh fell from her lips before she glanced up at the full moon, allowing memories of her childhood to float through her mind…memories of Itachi.

It only saddened her to know that her memories had dulled over the years, and became blurry to the point where she almost couldn't remember exactly what he looked like, or how he acted. Repressing her familiar emotions, she began to pluck at her strings, playing the same song that she had learned so long ago with the aid of her demon friend.

As she played, her mind focused onto other things. For the most part, she tried remembering all of Itachi's features and behaviors. She remembered how his blood red eyes always seemed cold and uncaring until he glanced upon her, and then they would flash with a new emotion, an unrecognizable one.

She remembered how he never smiled, and never seemed to laugh…never seemed to be happy like the way that she had been.

But then, at times, she would notice the imperceptible upward movement at the corner of his mouth, and the way his eyes would discreetly show amusement at something she had done or said.

She also remembered how it felt to be protected by him, and how she always felt safe when he was near, like nothing could ever harm her. He was truly unlike any other demon that she had come across. Instead of wanting to eat her like three demons had in her lifetime, he protected her from them, shielding her from the cruelties of the world.

She knew that he was the friend of her heart, and she had loved him more than any of her other friends, including Neji. There was something that had always felt so right when she was with Itachi; almost like…she belonged with him.

As her fingers continued to the pluck the strings, she felt her heart wrench at the disheartening knowledge that whether or not that was true…she wasn't with him, not then and not for the past ten years.

The longing was unbearable.

It was, however, interesting that the other temple residents had accepted Hinata's full moon routine as their own. It had become normal and expected that they would fall asleep to her sad song for every night of the full moon. Despite that, none of them ever said anything to her about it, but only because they felt that the subject was better left alone. Only Gaara knew the deeper meaning, but he wasn't the only one who _felt _it.

He knew that and contemplated about it silently, as he leaned against his balcony, gazing up at the moon with his ears tuned to the melancholy song that drifted throughout the temple.

Unbeknownst to Hinata, all the temple residents seemed to stop whatever they were doing to share in that one moment of Hinata's inner feelings.

Jiraiya and Tsunade had been conversing in her office when the song started, but stopped at the first few sounds. Almost automatically, they, too, turned to gaze out the window at the full moon, sharing in the silence.

Temari was making her bed when the music started, and she stopped mid-action to listen.

Ino was laying on her back in bed, staring up at the ceiling. For once, not a word escaped her lips, and no effort was made to sneak a peak at other peoples' thoughts.

Sakura had just slipped on her nightgown when the song started, and she, too, stared out at the full moon with silent contemplation and sympathy.

At the same time, the moon was being watched by Sasuke as well, who was sitting on his bedroom balcony railing. Only his black eyes betrayed his inner emotion of hatred, exhaustion, and loneliness.

Neji, who seemed to have been waiting for the music, was sitting on the floor, back against the wall and knee upright with his arm hanging off. His head was leaning back against the wall and his eyes half-open. Even the security men stopped their duties to stare up at the moon while the song played. Except, only Neji carried an emotion unlike the others. He felt hopeless and strained, tired of having to patiently wait for an opportunity to arise between him and Hinata.

He was so tired of just being friends with her, and every time she played that song on designated nights, he wondered what the real reason was for why she unconsciously kept him at a distance. What could possibly come before him when it came to her heart?

--

His journey halfway over, Itachi suddenly slowed to a stop at the well-known emotions that whispered through his mind…emotions that didn't belong to him. He gazed up into the night sky, without really having to, and found the full moon gazing back at him.

Somehow, he could faintly hear a song all too familiar to him, but he didn't hear it with his ears. Somehow, he knew that she was playing it, a beacon to light his way back to her.

If he hurried, he could keep his promise to her, and return to her on a full moon night.

As he thought about it, he wondered seriously about what such a reunion would be like for them.

It was something so unpredictable and could end in so many different ways, yet he didn't hesitate about wanting it to occur already.

As he began walking again, he was uncertain if the anxious emotion that just flitted through his body belonged to him or her.

_Ten years…and the wait is finally over._

* * *

**See what happens when I'm not in school? The chapters get out and not at a month at a time…or more.**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it, and I'm sorry that it was so long, but oh well, right? It happens. **

**On another note, Merry Christmas and look forward to the next chapter, which will hopefully be out soon.**

**Check my profile for updates!**

**Please review!**

**Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, everyone!**

**Tranquilwriter**


	19. Harbinger

**IMPORTANT: **Because it's been awhile since I've uploaded anything for this story, you might want to go back and reread a few chapters to refresh your memory if you think you need it. I'm only saying this because I'm picking up where I left off, and I'm not going to insert a quick review at the beginning or anything. So, if you feel like you don't remember the story and events too well, go back and do some rereading now.

A BIG THANK YOU FOR BEING PATIENT WITH ME!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**AGE REMINDER: Rookie Nine: 18 — Neji, Tenten, Lee: 19 — Kankuro: 20 — Temari: 21**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XVIII**

**Harbinger**

* * *

"_Fate is not the ruler, but the servant of Providence."_

_-Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton_

"_It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped."_

_-Anthony Robbins _

* * *

It was strange…

At one point, she was seeing and experiencing nothing more than the disjointed images of which dreams were made.

But then…

Everything changed without warning.

Suddenly, she was aware of herself and her surroundings, and the fact that she wasn't quite dreaming anymore. She knew that she was still sleeping, and she knew that she was supposed to be dreaming, but she wasn't anymore.

She had never once in her life felt this _aware _while she was asleep.

It couldn't be a dream, and yet…she had no other explanation for wherever she was currently.

Her subconscious perhaps?

If so, why couldn't there at least be some color and dimension?

All she could see was white—nothing but white all around her. She would turn and nothing would change. She would take a hesitant step forward, feeling the stability of some type of ground below her, but upon inspection, she honestly couldn't tell if what she was walking on was the "ground" or something else that she couldn't comprehend.

A place with no dimensions. She cautiously extended her arm in front of her body, testing the air around her, wondering if her fingers would possibly come into contact with a surface of some kind.

Nothing. Just…nothing.

"Where am I?" She could feel her lips move to form the words, and despite that they were whispered, the words echoed around her into the unknown.

"_You are in the only place where I can reach you."_

Hinata gasped and whirled around at the voice, her eyes flickering around at the expanse of white. "Who's there?"

"_Do not be afraid, child. I would never hurt you." _The voice blew against her ear, resembling a sound so soft and smooth that Hinata knew immediately it had to be feminine.

However, when Hinata turned around to face in the direction of the voice, there was still nothing. "Where are you? Why can't I see you?"

The voice hummed pleasantly and comfortingly. _"It's better that you don't see me, even though I am all around you."_

Hinata furrowed her brows, lowering her gaze to staring at her hands. "Who are you?" she murmured.

A sweet and soft bell-like laughter answered her question. _"You are all so insistent on knowing who I am rather than knowing why I am here in the first place." _

Hinata had never heard a more gentle voice, so full of love and tender care…and yet, Hinata couldn't help but be suspicious of this mysterious voice. "If I don't know who you are, how can I trust when you tell me the reason why you're here?"

There was a long moment of silence before an answer came.

"_You have a very trusting soul, but I can see that those around you have influenced you to be suspicious of others."_

In her mind, Hinata readily agreed thinking about how she was a deity, so of course she had to learn how to not be so trusting of those she wasn't familiar with. With the same cautious intentions, Hinata did not voice her thoughts aloud, knowing that she should never tell a stranger what she was. It was in thanks to Neji and Gaara that she had to learn not to be so trusting of others; especially with all the times that her guardian had told her that anyone could be an enemy in disguise, even someone who seemed like just an innocent village civilian.

According to Gaara, even her own friends could turn into enemies at a moment's notice. Hinata hated to believe that, and she also hated that she had to go against her very nature just to keep herself safe.

As if the voice could hear her thoughts, it spoke again with a sympathetic tone. _"It is never easy to have to go against your natural trusting nature just to ensure that your life is protected. Of course, those around you know intuitively that your life in particular needs that protection. You handle it very well, Hinata."_

Hinata had been listening with something akin to surprise, but it only intensified when she heard her name. "You know who I am?"

That same bell-like laughter sounded again, floating around her like a gentle breeze. _"Of course I do, child."_

"Then surely I must know who you are." Despite the statement, Hinata worded it like a hesitated question.

Even though Hinata couldn't see the mysterious being, she had a feeling that the voice was offering her a soft smile, a knowing smile. _"Perhaps you do." _The voice enigmatically replied.

"But I—"

"_I promise that I will tell you who I am, but we have much more important matters to discuss first. I'm afraid that I don't have much time to stay and talk with you. I would love nothing more than to talk with you for hours and hours, if only to listen to what your life has offered you thus far." _There was a pause as the voice's tone changed from something maternal to something more stern and serious. _"Unfortunately, time is against us, I'm afraid."_

Hinata had so many questions, and she was so confused, but she knew what she had to ask next. "So…um, why are you here?"

"_I have come to warn you."_

"Warn me?" Hinata gulped, feeling a familiar fearful tightening in her chest. "A-About what?"

The voice hesitated, as if unsure how to word the response, how to lessen its impact. _"Not too long from now…there will be a war, my child."_

"A war?" Hinata echoed the words shakily.

"_The final war…between the demons and the humans. It will be the end to the many centuries of constant turmoil between the two races. It will be the war that changes this world and decides the fate for all involved. Not one creature alive will be unaffected by this war's repercussions…not one."_

Hinata could feel her bottom lip trembling and her hands shaking, even as she clasped them together tightly. Her mouth opened and closed many times before she was able to finally speak. "What else?"

The voice was eerily quiet for another few moments before speaking again. _"I wish that I could've come with better news for you, but your generation of deities was fated to be a part of something that will forever change this world, and influence it into that change."_

"So, then, we can stop this war from happening…right?" Hinata asked, her smile brimming with uncertain hope.

"_No, child." _The voice softened as if brushing against Hinata's cheek the way a mother's fingers would to her baby. _"This war was always meant to happen. It needs to happen, for everyone's sake. I do sympathize that it had to happen during your lifetime, but it was fated to be so, and for good reason. There is something that your generation has that no other generation could even come close to having."_

Hinata's brows furrowed in confusion, asking the unspoken question with her eyes.

The voice was smiling again, except this time with pride. _"Your generation has the power to change and alter this world forever. An amazing gift to have during such trying times."_

Hinata was uncertain what to feel. A part of her was happy to hear that her generation was so special, and yet, another part of her was terrified to hear that they were all fated to be a part of something so horrific. A war? Not just that, but the _final _war? Hinata had never felt so hopeless before. So much was expected of her and the others…How could someone like her possibly make a difference, especially the kind of life-altering difference that the voice spoke about?

She felt the need to cry, but the urge was stopped upon wondering if she could even cry in her subconscious.

Hinata removed herself from her deep thoughts, taking notice that the voice had been very quiet for awhile, as if waiting anxiously. But for what? Her reaction? Possibly, but that wasn't all of it. Hinata felt that it was almost like the voice was anxiously waiting not as much for her reaction, but for her to calm down enough to…hear what else had to be said. Judging by the voice's anxiety, Hinata had a feeling that, if possible, it was worse than the warning about the war.

Hinata trembled again, before repeating Neji's words in her mind about how to control her emotions and calm her fears. _Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out. _Her heart rate returned to normal, her shaking had stopped, and she had steeled herself for whatever came next.

"There's more, isn't there?" Hinata asked quietly.

"_Yes…there's more." _The voice sounded sad, yet…comforting at the same time.

"Are…um," Hinata cleared her throat nervously. "Are we going to lose?"

"_Even I don't know that." _There was a great amount of raw honesty in the voice. _"No one will know the outcome until it happens."_

Hinata felt confused once again. What else did the voice have to tell her if not the outcome of the war? "Then…"

As if hearing her internal question, the voice answered in that same sad, yet comforting voice. _"My next warning is only for you and no one else. The others won't have a part in it, since it will be your decision to make…and it will affect everything."_

Hinata had to let the words slowly mull over in her mind before she could say anything. "What do you mean? What decision?"

"_In the upcoming future, you will have to make a decision, one that is unlike every other choice you had to make in your life. It will be the hardest choice you will have to make, and it'll have the power to affect this war."_

"What's the decision?"

"_I can't tell you that, my child. There is too much at stake, and I can't influence you anymore than I already have." _

There was one more pause, and then Hinata could feel two warm hands cupping her face gently, even though she could still see nothing around her except white.

"_Hinata…" _The voice was whispering to her, as gently as it could. _"That choice you will make in the future…it will be what starts this war."_

Hinata's eyes widened as she gasped, and she could feel her entire body freeze with the shock. Her gaze lifted to where she assumed the being would be if she could see it, and her panic was clearly visible. "You mean…I'm going to be the reason that this war will start?"

"_Yes…the demons will attack Konoha because of you."_

The breath couldn't have been knocked out of her anymore if someone had punched her in the stomach repeatedly. Against her will, her eyes became moistened with tears, her entire body shook and trembled…even her breathing was shaky and irregular. "No…There must be a way to stop it…"

"_No, child. You need to understand that this has to happen, and you can't think that it's going to be all your fault." _The voice was firm and commanding, yet still gentle. _"There are steps that need to be taken for this war to happen."_

"And…" Hinata inhaled shakily. "I just happen to be one of those steps."

"_The last one, yes."_

Hinata gulped and flitted her eyes around to various areas of the white place she was in. Her mind was on overdrive, and it was extremely difficult for her mind to process that kind of information. She didn't even know how she was supposed to react to that kind of news. How would anyone react to being told that they were going to be the reason behind an attack on their home? Her most basic of feelings was guilt and betrayal; or more specifically, guilt for feeling like she was somehow betraying her village in some way.

Out of nowhere, Hinata felt like she was being embraced, and yet, she could still see nothing around her.

The voice whispered into her ear. _"I have to leave now. My time has run out. I truly am sorry for having to tell you such bad news, but you needed to know…for your sake and everyone else's as well. Please understand that I'm doing what I can to protect you and the other deities…and those you love."_

Hinata could only nod mutely.

"_You have done very well so far in your life. You have done great things for this world, more than you can imagine. From now on, however, the only advice I can offer you is that you incorporate your heart into everything you do and say. You'd be surprised how beneficial it can be to use your heart instead of your mind, especially when making decisions about your future. Do what you feel is right, rather than what you think is right. Everything will be fine in the end if you do."_

The embrace disappeared, and Hinata suddenly felt as if the presence of the voice was slowly drifting away. "Wait," Hinata called out meekly. "You…You promised that you would tell me who you are."

The voice was smiling gently again. _"I did, didn't I?"_

Hinata waited, suddenly feeling like the world of white nothingness was melting away, and her body was slowly beginning to awaken. Still, she didn't say anything and only waited for the voice to answer.

The voice's beautiful laughter echoed softly, sounding so far away. _"The name you can call me is—"_

Hinata inhaled sharply, her eyes opening, taking in the view of her bedroom ceiling. The morning sun was washing into her room, brightening it considerably. The birds were chirping and the leaves were rustling in the slight breeze. All of these were the typical sounds of morning, and yet…Hinata didn't hear any of it.

She sat up in her bed slowly, allowing her covers to crumple into her lap. She held her hands up in front of her, staring at her palms dazedly.

Her lips parted to release nothing more than a whisper, a simple answer to a simple question.

"Amaterasu."

* * *

His meal was finished before the sun had fully lit up the sky, and he was ready to begin his journey again. Itachi fluidly stood and for a moment stared around at the dense foliage surrounding him. Despite the typical sounds of the forest, it seemed like all he could hear was silence.

Normally, the distance on foot from Akatsuki to Konoha was a journey of three to five days for a demon. For humans, if they even dared to journey to Akatsuki, the distance would be at least a week. Itachi was making excellent time, having only been traveling for a day and already half-way to Konoha. Of course, he had been running for most of it, taking short and infrequent breaks to eat or rest before continuing. He had only slept for a couple of hours in the past two days, but luckily, his demon blood had no issue with it. Never before had he felt more gratified to be born a demon rather than a weak human. Otherwise, the journey wouldn't have been so tolerable.

Being the last night of the full moon, he knew that he had to quicken his pace if we was to be at the temple before the next morning. According to his estimation, he would arrive by evening, which was exactly as he had planned if he wanted to keep his promise and return to Hinata on a full moon night.

He wondered briefly if she would hold up her end of the deal and play the song, as she was supposed to do every full moon.

_**"On every full moon night, play your song and I will find you."**_

He promised her that he would, and after ten long years, he was finally going to fulfill it.

Every time he thought about his return, he always wondered what her reaction would be to seeing him after so long. Would she be happy, relieved…angry? Would she even remember him?

_**"I'll really miss you, Itachi…Don't forget me…okay…?"**_

He supposed that he would just have to wait to find out.

* * *

The curtains on her balcony fluttered in the slight breeze as she stood placidly, staring out at the view of the courtyard and the infamous Konoha wall separating her from her memories of so long ago. However, instead of dwelling on past memories, her thoughts were more centered on her "dream" and its implications.

"_**Not too long from now…there will be a war, my child."**_

"…_**the demons will attack Konoha because of you."**_

Hinata's hands absently clenched onto her gown.

So engrossed was she in her thoughts that she almost didn't hear the calm knocking on her bedroom door. Without saying a word, and without even batting an eyelash, she sedately walked toward the door and opened it to find Neji on the other side.

He wore a small smirk and his eyes softened upon seeing her. Although, that quickly changed to something more pensive when he took in her dazed appearance. "Are you alright?"

Hinata met his gaze and smiled thinly before nodding. "I'm fine."

His eyes narrowed in doubt. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, Neji. I promise." She offered him one more disarming smile before sidling past him and beginning her walk to the dining hall for breakfast. Behind her, Neji slowly followed with an air of suspicion around him.

Despite the questions running rampant through his mind, he stayed quiet and hesitant to break the thoughtful silence enshrouding his deity. He told himself that he would wait until she was ready to tell him whatever it was that kept her mind so occupied. He would soon find that it was easier said than done.

When they entered the dining room, most of the others were present and already eating. In fact, Neji noticed that the only ones missing were the patriarch, matriarch, and Kakashi. As to their whereabouts, he hadn't the slightest idea nor concern.

Usually, Neji and Hinata would approach their seats and he would pull hers out for her and wait until she sat and murmured an appreciative "thank you" before taking his own seat. _Usually, _Hinata would smile at those around her and greet them with a happy "good morning" at which time Temari would immediately start up a conversation with the quiet girl, and the two wouldn't stop talking until the meal was finished. This was _usually _what happened; so much so that it had become routine for them.

Neji noticed that this morning, the routine had disappeared as if it never existed. By the time he reached Hinata's seat, she had already pulled it out herself and sat down, still not saying a word. In fact, she didn't say anything to anyone. She didn't even look at them. All she did was reach for her utensils and mechanically eat her breakfast. Now he was worried, and it became even worse when he glanced at Temari, thinking that she would say something to get Hinata out of whatever type of mood she was in. He was wrong.

Temari seemed just as mentally distant to everything around her as Hinata was. Seeing as how it was hardly in Temari's character to stay quiet for long without some type of snide remark, it was at the very least strange to see her so withdrawn. The older deity did nothing but stay quiet, pick at her food, and stare blankly at the table. She appeared just as engrossed in her own thoughts as Hinata, and that worried him even more.

Glancing to Temari's right, Neji met eyes with Gaara, who stared back levelly without a single hint of emotion on his face. He watched as Gaara's eyes traveled to Hinata's reserved form, and only then did Neji notice the slight crinkle of concern between the redhead's brows.

Apparently, Temari and Hinata weren't the only ones acting in such an odd way. The other deities seemed to be acting that way as well.

"Tenten, come on, just tell me what's bothering you." Kankuro begged, keeping his worried gaze on the young woman next to him.

Tenten didn't even blink as she seemed to be ignoring his very presence.

"Look, if I did something to make you mad, tell me so I can fix it. You know how much I hate the silent treatment…!"

Nothing.

"Sakura, my blossom, you are not eating!" Lee gasped. "If it does not suit your tastes, you may have some of mine. It is the best food and will provide you with much needed energy for today." He paused, seeing that she didn't even move, just stared with confusion marring her brows. "Please, my youthful blossom, you must eat something!"

Nothing.

"Hey Ino…" Naruto turned to her with a smile, leaning over the table to get a better look at her reticent expression. "Ino!" When she didn't reply, he began to pout and speak quieter. "Why won't you talk to me? You're being really weird today. Are you on your…you know…monthly thing?" He paused, instinctually waiting for the hit that usually came whenever he brought that up, but nothing happened. She seemed so frozen. "Ino…What's going on? Why are you being so quiet? You aren't sick, are you?" He began to get frustrated before grasping her chin between his fingers and forcing her to face him.

Ino only gazed at him blankly, as if not really seeing him clearly.

More than all of their arguments combined, Naruto hated seeing her look at him like that most of all. "Hey, stop ignoring me and say something, will ya?"

Ino sighed, shaking her head out of his grasp. "Not now, Naruto." She spoke quietly and calmly while scooting her seat back, standing up, and turning to leave the room.

Naruto watched her leave with wide, astonished eyes and a painful throbbing in his gut, telling him that something was definitely wrong.

Neji's eyes lifted from his plate at hearing Ino leave the dining room, and after a minute or so, he watched as Naruto ran out after her. Not a word was spoken from the two blondes as this happened, which was unusual and discomforting. Soon, Sakura and Lee left in the same manner, followed by Tenten and Kankuro shortly after.

_What's going on? _Neji wondered, feeling as if something bad were happening and not one of them knew anything about it.

Suddenly, Hinata began to stand, and for some reason, Neji inwardly panicked. "Hinata," Neji stood with her, grasping onto her wrist to stop her from walking any further. "Where are you going?"

She met his gaze with her own empty one before replying steadily. "Breakfast is over. Miss Kurenai will be expecting us soon."

Neji glanced to the adult table in the room to see that Miss Kurenai was in fact still eating. He quickly turned back to the deity he was supposed to guard. "Hinata," he whispered fiercely, pulling her towards him with gentle force. It wasn't until her face was no more than an inch from his that he began to speak in hushed tones. "What is going on? And don't you dare lie to me."

Hinata's eyebrows rose and true emotion flickered in her opal eyes. "I'm sorry, Neji. I don't want to worry you, I'm just…" She paused, glancing away with a confused frown. "Distracted. I'll be fine, I promise. I just need a little time to sort everything out."

That answer would have to do, he supposed. His hand that was once gripping her wrist moved down to hold her hand instead. "Alright, but I'm not going to let you leave without me."

Hinata nodded with a smile that disappeared quickly, and allowed Neji to lead her out of the room.

* * *

The deities' strange behavior didn't change throughout Kurenai's lesson, their music practice, or even their training. It would be obvious to say that their guardians became distracted themselves, except with worry and concern. It was during the guardians' training that it became more noticeable, and more to each other than themselves.

Gaara was the first one to mention anything about it. The redhead was sparring with his blonde friend, and unlike their normal spars, this one was much more…subdued.

It was known that Gaara was not known for hand-to-hand combat, even though Naruto was, but it didn't mean that he wasn't capable of it. This was proven as he and the blonde exchanged punches and blows. Neither hit each other, of course; or rather, Gaara chose to stay on defensive while Naruto tried to hit him. After Naruto's up-teenth time of missing Gaara, the redhead finally dodged one of Naruto's wild punches before offering one of his own to the blonde's gut.

In response, Naruto stumbled back, arms wrapped around his torso as he coughed lightly.

"You're not usually this distracted." Gaara commented sternly.

Naruto coughed once more before righting himself and glaring at his half-demon friend. "I'm not distracted."

Gaara tilted his head, allowing his eyes to show how much doubt he had in the blonde's words. "In normal circumstances, you would have at least blocked that hit before coming at me with one of your own. You didn't do that."

"So, you automatically assume that I'm distracted?" Naruto sounded angry, but Gaara could tell that it was more frustration than anger.

"What's bothering you?" Gaara asked stonily, getting straight to the point, knowing that it was the only way to deal with Naruto.

The young man in question spent all of two seconds in silence before bursting with his obvious aggravation. "It's Ino, okay? She's barely talked to me at all! In fact, all she's said to me today is _three words_! She'll barely even look at me, and when she does, it's like she doesn't even see me, like I'm not even there!" Naruto shook his head, running an agitated hand through his thick, golden hair. "I don't get it. I don't think I've done anything to upset her, but even if I did, she yells at me. She doesn't…just say nothing and act like I don't exist…That's not her…"

"She's not the only one." Gaara replied in a murmur that had Naruto gazing at him in worry.

"Temari's doing it too?"

Gaara nodded. "And Hinata."

Naruto glanced to the side at Kankuro, who was sitting on the ground, mindlessly fixing one of his wooden puppets. "Looks like Tenten's a part of it, too."

Gaara nodded again before he and Naruto both turned to stare at Lee and Neji, who were also sparring, and their spar was just as subdued and lacking in skill as his and Naruto's was.

Naruto spoke up again, sounding nothing like his usual cheerful self. "Ino and Sakura always talk during lunch or dinner or whatever. This morning, they didn't even look at each other. Sakura was completely ignoring Lee, just like Ino was to me." His fists clenched at his sides before glancing at Gaara again. "Something must've happened to make them this way. They were fine last night before we all went to bed, and then this morning…they were completely different. What happened while we were asleep?"

Gaara, who hadn't slept at all the previous night, honestly had no answer for his close friend, but he agreed that something _definitely _happened without them knowing.

Even so, what could they possibly do to change it if they had no idea what was happening?

* * *

"I see." Lord Sarutobi rigidly set his teacup down onto his desk in tense contemplation of what he had just been told. "That doesn't sound too promising at all, does it?"

Despite that the question was rhetorical, Yukio, who stood just next to the sitting village leader, shook his head. It seemed that he, too, was in shock at what had just been revealed.

When Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Kakashi said nothing in response, Sarutobi leaned forward to interlace his hands in front of his face. "Now, let me see if I have this straight. What you're telling me…is that there are hundreds, thousands, possibly millions of _demons_ basically _camped _practically right outside of our village. Is that right?"

"Yes, my lord." Kakashi replied while the matriarch and patriarch merely nodded solemnly.

Sarutobi sighed heavily, leaning back in his chair with one hand rubbing his forehead. "How is it that we weren't informed about this? How is it that we've had no _idea _about any of this?" He paused, allowing a frown to mar his features. "All those villages…they could be completely destroyed for all we know, and knowing how those demons fight…they probably are. Not one human would be left alive…"

Tsunade leaned forward. "Which is probably why we had no way of knowing that this was happening."

"Typically," Jiraiya added. "And knowing how many villages separate us from demon territory, to murder every human in every area of that land would take years…even for demons."

The village leader shook his head in shame. "And we're just figuring this out now…when there is nothing we can do, no one to save."

"My lord," Yukio spoke up quietly with his eyes glinting with hidden vengeance. "There may be no one left to save, but we still have someone to fight, we still have an enemy. We've let these demons threaten our existences for years. Perhaps it's time that we do something about it and get our revenge."

"Not everything has to be solved with war, Yukio." The leader replied softly. "You will come to learn this in time."

The comment only seemed to agitate the young man. "With demons involved, there can only ever _be _war. If we have any hopes of surviving for the next year, we have no choice but to start a war with the demons and destroy them like they've destroyed others of our own race."

"I understand, Yukio, but it's more complicated than that."

"It's not complicated! We can't just sit back and do nothing! It'll be _our _village next!"

"Enough, Yukio." Sarutobi silenced him with a stern reprimand. "This is neither the time, nor the place to be discussing this matter. For all we know, there could be survivors, ones that managed to get away in time."

Tsunade intervened at that point. "What would you have us do?"

"First," Sarutobi began. "I need to send word to Suna and Ame about this new development. Secondly, I will disband any missions outside of this village that the temple residents would usually handle. The last thing this village needs is to lose one of our deities."

"Agreed." Tsunade nodded.

"Thirdly, I would like to send out reconnaissance groups to survey the land and search for survivors, as well as find out the location of any other demon camps. We need to acquire as much information about this issue as we can…so that we can properly fix it." He paused to gaze at Jiraiya. "Jiraiya, I'm leaving you in charge of sending out the groups. I'll give you access to our hunters and armies. Train them and prepare them for what they are to do. Kakashi, I would like for you and Asuma to be one of those groups, but more specifically, I want you two to get information on the demons' movements, and hopefully, plans as well."

"Yes, sir."

"Tsunade, can I trust that you'll take care of things at the temple?"

"Of course, sir." She replied with a slow smile. "I'm sure we can keep them busy enough to where they won't even think about missions."

"Good." Sarutobi nodded. "Report back to me as often as possible. Until then, you're dismissed."

* * *

Kurenai stood next to Anko as the two women silently assessed the unusually-behaving deities. While the young women were indeed training as per usual, it was done in a very passive manner, something very unlike them. Mostly, training was not done quietly, and the girls could hardly go for a full minute without conversing with each other. It was definitely becoming a strange day, and it did not go unnoticed.

"Are you having problems?" Kurenai murmured, knowing that she and Anko were out of earshot of the five deities.

Anko shook her head. "They're acting strangely. I mean, they're working hard, don't get me wrong, but…the way that they're training…it's like they're determined about something. Either way, though, I've never seen them like this. Were they like this with you?"

Kurenai nodded solemnly. "Yes, but I have no idea why. I would almost say that perhaps they had gotten in a fight, and maybe they have, but it seems more complicated than that. It's more like they're all very distracted…like they're all in different worlds."

"Did you say anything to them?"

"No…They still do their work flawlessly, but…it's not right in the way of _how _they're doing it."

Anko nodded in agreement. "Whatever their issue is, it needs to be solved quickly, because this is ridiculous."

"And it's going to get even worse when they get to the pavilion. It doesn't seem like they can be of help to anyone when they're like this."

"Hmph, no kidding. There's nothing worse than a useless deity, not to mention _five _useless deities."

"Yes, we definitely have a problem on our hands." At that, she met gazes with Anko, both emitting their frustration through their eyes. The silent moment ended when Kurenai spoke up again. "What would you say to cutting their training short today?"

Anko raised a curious brow. "That depends. What do you have in mind?"

The red-eyed woman sighed. "Hopefully, something that will work…A possible solution to our little problem."

"Well, what the hell are you waiting for? Let's get this done!"

* * *

It only took a few moments for Anko and Kurenai to escort the deities back into the classroom, where Kurenai's plan was to play out. Each of the deities took their seats in their usual chairs and stayed quiet while their two instructors spoke to them.

"Alright, listen up!" Anko began. "None of us here have any time to deal with whatever the hell is bothering you guys, so it's time for you all to learn to shut up and move on! You have more important things to do than mope around like a bunch of babies!"

"Anko," Kurenai murmured, placing her hand on the other woman's forearm. "Why don't you let me handle this?"

She shrugged in reply. "Alright, fine, whatever. I don't care." She stepped backward and lifted herself to sit on top of Kurenai's desk.

The red-eyed woman sighed before directing her gaze onto the girls. "I think it's obvious to say that we've all noticed your strange behavior today. You've all been very…distracted all day long, and it's starting to affect those around you. You've been doing your work well, so there's not any complaints there, but it's apparent that there is definitely something bothering you guys." She paused, meeting eyes with each of the girls. "Now, you have some time before lunch, which you are to use to sort out whatever it is that's going on with you guys. Neither Anko nor myself will ask what it is, and we'll even leave the room to allow you privacy, but it comes with a price. None of you are to leave this room until you have settled your issues with each other, or whatever the problem is. So, please…whether this is a personal problem or a group problem, you all need to help each other sort it out. Only then can you leave. Understood?"

Each of the deities simply nodded before turning their gazes elsewhere.

Kurenai nodded with satisfaction before motioning to Anko for them to leave the room.

When they did and the door closed and it was just the deities occupying the room, the only sound was silence.

And then more silence.

Someone would shift in their seat.

Another would sniff or clear their throat.

Other than that, it was completely silent. Completely…and awkwardly…silent.

Hours seemed to pass by in the duration of minutes.

Not one of them would speak.

For Hinata's part, she focused on her hands clasping tightly in her lap, her stare unfocused. She knew that Kurenai was right. She knew that she wasn't acting like herself, but she hadn't known that the other girls were doing the same thing. Had she really been so distracted that she had no idea about even her closest friend Temari behaving in the same fashion?

Her being distracted was only part of it. In actuality, Hinata felt more trepidation than anything else, but also confusion because she wasn't exactly sure how she was supposed to feel after what Amaterasu had told her.

A war between demons and humans? The final war? And she was going to be the reason why it would start? How was she supposed to react to something like that? How could she possibly just take that in stride or shrug it off or "move on" as Anko put it?

She tried so hard not to think about it, but it always came thundering back to the forefront of her mind, not sparing her a second's break. She felt worried and disappointed, guilty, betrayed, angry, depressed, uncertain, hopeless…Not one positive emotion had passed through her since she woke up that morning. Not a single one.

And now she was supposed to talk to the other deities about what was bothering her and vice versa? Yeah right, they probably wouldn't even believe her. Although, even if they did, how the hell was she supposed to explain about this Amaterasu person?

It was at that time that Temari sighed heavily in annoyance. "Okay, so, uh…Does anyone here know who Amaterasu is?"

Immediately, there were four sets of eyes that snapped to attention and faced Temari with a mixture of shock and amazement.

Temari stared back at them levelly. "So is that a yes?"

Tenten was the first to answer. "How do you know that name, Temari?"

The older deity shrugged with her arms crossed over her chest. "Amaterasu…talked to me last night…while I was sleeping."

The others were quiet again, as if still amazed by what she had said.

Temari snorted quietly. "They wanted us to say what's bothering us, so there you go. That's my problem."

Ino spoke up, her tone very grave. "What did she tell you?"

Temari glanced up at her in slight bewilderment. "How do you know Amaterasu is a 'she'?"

Ino seemed to become more animated and more herself as she answered. "I know a lot of men, and none of them can talk the way that she talked. I mean, she sounded like a mother…she seemed a lot like a mother to me."

Sakura nodded. "I agree. There's nothing masculine about her."

"Wait a minute," Tenten leaned forward in her seat, her eyes slightly widened. "Are you saying that we all had the same dream last night? About the same person and everything?"

"Oh," Temari laughed humorlessly. "There's no way that was a dream. I've had dreams before, and _that _did not feel like a dream at all."

Sakura seemed to become more herself, too, as she talked. "You're right, it didn't. It was weird, cause you would think it would be a dream, but…I felt awake during the whole thing, even though I knew that I was still sleeping. Is that how it was for you guys?"

They nodded.

Ino laughed with a smile. "This is really weird. Seriously, what are the chances that we all get visited by Amaterasu in the same night? One of us, sure, that's…normal, but all of us? That's not a coincidence."

It was quiet again as they all mulled over what it could mean that they all shared the same "dream".

It was because of that thought that led Tenten to repeat Ino's earlier question, and she directed it towards Temari. "So, what did she tell you?"

She shrugged in reply. "If I had to guess, probably the same thing she told all of you…but I don't know, maybe not."

It was quiet again, everyone hesitant to speak of what they were told, just in case they weren't really told the same thing. After all, who would be willing to break the news about something like a future war?

Surprisingly, it was Sakura who broke the silence with an answer to Tenten's question. Despite that her tone emanated her solemnity on the subject, she was direct. "She told me that in the upcoming future—whenever that is—there's going to be a war." She paused, seeing all of their wide-eyed expressions. "Apparently, it's supposed to be the final war between demons and humans…and I guess we're all supposed to be involved in it."

Ino nodded. "She told me that too."

"Yeah, same here." Tenten murmured unhappily.

The only indication of Temari and Hinata's agreement was a simple nod of their heads.

Ino leaned towards Sakura. "Did she tell you anything else?"

"Yeah…" Her green eyes darted away uncomfortably. "She did. What about you?"

"Yup…But, uh, the warning she gave me…she said that it only involved me…that the warning was only meant for me."

During the entire duration of the conversation, Hinata had been inwardly trembling in anxiety, worried that if the others were visited by Amaterasu, then surely they would know about what part she played in the war. She was so terrified that they knew about her being the reason for the war starting, and even more so terrified at what their reactions would be. Surely, they would hate her for it, right?

That all seemed to disappear at Ino's last statement. Her anxiety dissipated temporarily as she understood that even though all of them were told about the war, perhaps they were also given individual warnings—warnings only meant for themselves. If so, then perhaps they really had no idea about her own personal warning. She would be lying if she said that it didn't make her feel relieved.

The conversation continued as each one of the other deities agreed that Amaterasu had given them personal warnings as well. It was at that time that the awkward and uncomfortable silence returned, each one once again hesitant about telling what they were told. After all, they were distracted all day for a reason, and it wasn't just because of the upcoming war, but their very own roles that they had to play.

Temari sighed again in annoyance. "Well, if we have any intentions of eating lunch today, we might as well just tell each other all of it. I think it's obvious that we've all been told something that we didn't like to hear, but we can't do anything about this war unless we have all the information, and each one of us was given some type of warning about this war. So, Sakura, you go first. What was your warning?"

Sakura was even more hesitant to speak than before, but she knew that Temari was right. They needed all the information they could get if they wanted to win this war. With that in mind, Sakura began cautiously. "She told me that…I would have to face against a very strong opponent during the war. I know that it's going to be a demon, and a very strong one, probably one of the strongest. I will have to face against him in the streets of Konoha…and he has the power to destroy everything and everyone I love." She paused to gulp before continuing. "She said that I need to get stronger if I want to defeat him. The way I am now, I would lose. But…she said that I will have friends to help me, that all of us will work together to protect what we feel needs to be protected." She shrugged, staring at Temari. "That's it."

Temari simply nodded before turning to the only other blonde in the room. "Ino, what about you?"

The girl cracked a grim smile. "Well, I can tell you right now that my warning isn't about facing against any demons." She sighed. "My warning doesn't really seem to involve the war at all. All Amaterasu told me was that I needed to be sure of myself and my trust and love towards the ones I care about. She said that my love and trust will be tested in the future, and if I fail…I end up losing someone I love very much…forever."

Tenten furrowed her brows. "Is that it?"

Ino laughed dryly. "Yeah, tell me about it. I've been trying to figure it out all day. I don't know if she was talking about Naruto or one of you guys or…I don't know. And…I've been thinking about it, and it seems like my 'love and trust' is going to be tested because of, I guess, someone breaking my trust, or maybe they did something really bad and I have to be able to love them regardless…I don't know. It's so confusing and she wouldn't tell me anything more."

Tenten nodded. "I know how you feel. The warning she gave me completely sucks, and it was really short, and she wouldn't give me anymore details for how I can prevent it from happening."

The others agreed in complete understanding.

Tenten continued. "So…my warning…" She stopped and instead turned her gaze onto Temari. "She mentioned Kankuro."

The older sister widened her eyes with worry before leaning forward eagerly and somewhat panicked. "What? What do you mean? What about Kankuro? What did she say?"

Tenten's eyes moistened and her bottom lip quivered for a moment before she inhaled deeply to gain control over herself. "She told me that, um…that I would have to make a choice—" She stopped again as tears began to well up in her eyes. She gazed at Temari with a painful hopelessness. "I would have to choose whether I would live or die."

Ino interjected. "What kind of a choice is that?"

Tenten went on as if Ino never said anything, her gaze still focused on Temari. "If I die, then Kankuro lives." She sniffed, tearing her gaze away and blinking rapidly to clear away her tears. "If I live…Kankuro dies." She shook her head despairingly. "That's all the warning I got."

Temari imagined that the other deities were reacting with shock and foreboding, but all Temari could feel was determination. She kept inwardly telling herself that there was no way that she was going to lose her friend or her brother. She would make sure that it didn't happen…She had to make sure that Tenten would never have to make that choice.

She was quickly brought out of her thoughts, however, when she realized that it was her turn to tell the others about her warning. "I was basically told that when the war happens, I will have choose which side I will fight for. According to her, it's going to be a very hard decision for me. I highly doubt that, though, cause I have no reason why I would choose to fight for the demons rather than my own race and my own village.

"But, the more I thought about it…I'm not sure if there really is going to be just two sides. I mean, for all I know, there could be three or more sides fighting in this war…or maybe it is just the demons and the humans. I have no idea. She just told me that I needed to put my trust in my friends and help become a leader for them when the time came.

"She also mentioned something about having to protect someone close to me and fighting for their freedom…and their life, which I would like to think I would do anyway."

"Anything else?" Sakura asked with obvious hope, only to be disappointed by Temari's answer.

"No, that was it." Her lips curled in anger. "This is so ridiculous! What good are these warnings if we're not being told anything useful? She tells us these things, but she only gives us enough information to do absolutely nothing to prevent it from happening…And then she says that it _needs _to happen, that it _has _to happen, that this is fate and it's going to change the world, and apparently, we're supposed to have the power to do that!"

Ino smirked. "No pressure, huh?"

Temari seemed to be slowly coming down from her moment of rage. "It's just stupid. This whole thing is stupid."

"What I can't seem to figure out is…" Sakura added with a quizzical brow. "The demons are supposed to attack us, right? As in attack our village. If that's true, then how will they be able to get through the barrier?"

Hinata tensed in her seat, but stayed quiet, hoping the others wouldn't notice her behavior.

It was Tenten who considered the question seriously. "Maybe there's a weakness in the barrier that we don't know about."

"Of course there is." Temari explained. "Everything has a weakness, and if the demons haven't figured it out already, they probably will pretty soon."

Ino glared at the older deity while speaking sarcastically. "Try not to sound so optimistic there, Tem."

"Shut up. You know it's true."

"Whatever."

Sakura brought up another point. "What would be beneficial is if we could at least get some signs to look out for when the war is supposed to start. At least then we would be able to be prepared. If we can't prevent it, we might as well just get strong enough to fight it."

"Signs, huh?" Temari murmured to herself, seemingly considering it. When it began to grow quiet again, she glanced to the side of her at Hinata, who hadn't said a word the entire time they were talking. She was the last one left who hadn't told them about the personal warning. "Hina,"

Hinata snapped out of her thoughts to stare at her older friend. "Yes?"

Unlike how Temari spoke to the others, the way she spoke to Hinata was more gentle and soft. "What'd she tell you? Anything useful?"

Hinata's efforts at staying unnoticed were proven unsuccessful at that moment, and all she could do was gulp inaudibly and slowly nod her head.

"So, what was it?" Temari persisted, seeing that Hinata wasn't going to say anything unless forced.

"Um…" Hinata blushed at seeing all of the deities gaze at her in waiting. Mustering up her courage, but keeping her gaze on her lap, she began quietly. "Amaterasu told me that there are steps that have to be taken before the war can start." Before they could bombard her with exclamations and questions, she continued quickly. "But, she didn't tell what those steps are. She…She only told me one step, and…"

Seeing that Ino was getting impatient and about to remark on it, Temari hurriedly hushed her with one of her warning glares.

Sakura saw this and tried to offer comfort to her younger friend, since Ino clearly wasn't going to do that. "It's okay, Hinata. You can tell us."

Hinata gulped again nervously, continually fretting in her mind about their possible negative reactions. "I-I'm one of the steps."

"You are?" Temari furrowed her brows, speaking with concern. "Which one?"

They would hate her for this—she knew it.

The young healing deity slowly met eyes with her dear friend. "The last one." Noticing their confusion, Hinata inhaled shakily, turning her focus back onto her lap. "She warned me that I would have to make a decision…and that decision…would be what starts the war…I'm going to be the reason why the demons will attack."

Everyone was stunned into silence, and Hinata couldn't bear to look up to see their reactions. All she could do was wait before the inevitable yelling would start.

Not a sound was made for the longest time, but that didn't mean that they didn't try. Each one had repeatedly opened and closed their mouths, attempting to say something but thinking otherwise.

What could anyone say after hearing something like that?

Temari finally broke the silence, but her question came out as nothing more than a whisper. "Do you know what kind of decision it is? Do you have any idea what you could do that would start a war, or that would make the demons attack?"

A brief flash of Itachi swarmed her mind, but she shook her head in reply. In all honesty, Hinata really had no idea what kind of decision she would make that would start a war. Sure, she had befriended a demon, but no one but Gaara knew about that. Not to mention, what possible decision concerning Itachi would she have to make that would have the ability to provoke the demons to attack Konoha? She really had _no _idea.

Temari licked her lips slowly before casually biting on the inside of her cheek. "Well, if that's the case, then we have no choice." The others look at her in curiosity. "I guess we're just going to have to deal with it. We have our warnings, so now…we just have to find a way to use them to our advantage."

"Like how?" Ino questioned with obvious doubt.

"Well, for starters," Temari looked pointedly at Sakura. "We all need to start training harder and getting stronger. We will all have opponents to face, and we'll fight them together." She turned to Ino. "We'll need to better ourselves at trusting each other, no matter what kind of bad things any of us might have done in the past. We're the only family we have…which means…" She met eyes with Tenten. "We're not going to let anything bad happen to each other. We're all going to survive this."

Tenten smiled while nodding in gratitude.

"As for picking sides, we'll get to that when it happens." She saw Hinata look at her with apprehension. "Now that we have a sign to look out for, we'll know to be prepared."

"But, Tem—"

"Hina," Temari interrupted her, offering a small smile. "I know you, and I know the kind of person you are. You always try to make the right decisions, and you always consider others when you make those decisions. You need to trust us a little more, so that you know that whatever decision you make, whether it starts a war or not, we're going to support you and back you up all the way. Isn't that right?" She asked the other deities who smiled and nodded with encouragement that made Hinata smile genuinely for the first time that day.

"So, what do we do now?" Tenten asked.

Ino raised a brow. "Should we tell someone? Like our guardians or Lady Tsunade?"

Temari shrugged. "I think the real question should be…would they believe us if we did."

"They have to!" Sakura exclaimed passionately. "It's like what Ino said earlier. There's no way that this is a coincidence. And even though we don't know this Amaterasu person, they might. Plus, we can't just not tell anyone about a war that's going to happen in our own village. Everyone should be preparing for it—not just us."

"I agree." Tenten added. "We should definitely tell Lady Tsunade."

"When?" Ino asked. "Before dinner or after dinner? Or right now?"

"Let's do it before dinner, after we finish at the pavilion. Can't do it any earlier, cause I heard that the matriarch is visiting with the village leader still." Temari decided. "Until then, I think it'd be best if we kept this quiet, even from our guardians. Until we talk to Lady Tsunade, we need to act like this never happened." She laughed suddenly. "I think the least we can do for our guardians is to act normally."

Tenten laughed, too. "They do tend to freak out easily, don't they?"

Ino stood up, stretching her arms above her head. "In that case, let's go eat—I'm starving!"

Hinata's smile widened as she realized that for the first time that day, there was still hope and perseverance in a time of war…

And they were determined to win.

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**Okay, I have a few things to address, so please take a moment to read:**

*** First of all, I know that you hate me right now because there wasn't a reunion. Allow me to explain—I had this whole chapter planned out, from Hinata's "dream" all the way to Itachi's return. And when I say planned, I mean planned. I knew exactly what was going where and when. Here's the thing, though. It got so long, that I decided to just do it in TWO PARTS. So, just think of this chapter as part 1 of Itachi's return. Part 2, of course, will be the next chapter, WHICH I AM ALREADY HALFWAY THROUGH, so stick with me here.**

**Not to mention, now that I'm out of school, I have the whole summer to finish this story, and my ultimate goal is to have it finished before Fall. **

*** As for MR. WOLF, he will be returning in the future chapters. I grew attached to him, too, and I'm not ready for him to disappear yet, so don't worry. He's coming back, baby! (I just can't honestly tell you when)**

*** I remember that one of my reviewers asked if SAI was going to be in this story, and I can't remember who asked, and I'm too lazy to go check, so I'm sorry :(**** But, anyways, Sai will not be in this story and either will Danzo and whoever else I haven't mentioned so far. Unfortunately, this author can only handle so many characters, and Naruto has like…thousands. How Kishimoto does it, I have no idea.**

*** Lastly, I'm going to try something new here and show my appreciation to my reviewers by replying to whatever question(s) you ask me (but I refuse to reveal any spoilers!). I usually don't do that too often (rarely), but you guys have been so great and supportive that I need to pay you back somehow. So if you have any ideas how I can do that, let me know :)**

**A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO IS STILL READING!**

**AND A **_**HUMONGOUS **_**THANK YOU TO MY EXCEPTIONAL REVIEWERS! You all are truly the best, and I love you guys!**

**On that note, please take another few moments to review. I don't hold my chapters hostage anymore, but reviews keep me motivated, and authors need motivation. (I can't speak for everyone, but I think authors tend to have a bad case of procrastination, lol)**

**Thank you again, and my God, it is so good to be back!**

**Tranquilwriter**


	20. Advent

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**AGE REMINDER: Rookie Nine: 18 ****—**** Neji, Tenten, Lee: 19 ****—**** Kankuro: 20 ****—****Temari: 21**

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**Divinity**

**Chapter XIX**

**Advent**

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"_If you love someone, set them free. If they come back they're yours; if they don't they never were."_

_-Richard Bach_

"_Every parting is a form of death, as every reunion is a type of heaven." _

_-Tryon Edwards_

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If Tsunade had to describe the past twenty-four hours in one word, she would easily say that it had been hellish, and it _was _hellish in so many ways—one big frustrating and hellish nightmare. It had all started when Kakashi and his team returned from their mission, and extended into what she was doing currently, which was standing at the forefront of the entire young group of temple residents.

The masters, caretakers, security force, guardians, and deities were all gathered in a meeting room with the patriarch and matriarch leading the soon-to-be discussion. Everyone had already eaten dinner, and before that, the deities had informed Tsunade of their "dreams", which made Tsunade worry even more than she already was. After the deities had informed her of future events, the matriarch felt that it was in everyone's best interests that the information was not kept secret from the others.

Temari had given her a passionate speech about the upcoming war, and stating even more passionately how if they had any hopes of winning, they all had to train to get stronger…together.

It was because of that, that Tsunade knew that the guardians and security force would _need _to know.

With a sigh, the older woman crossed her arms under her large bust and leaned against a nearby desk. Jiraiya stood behind her, and the masters and caretakers lined the walls. It was only the younger group who took seats on the various chairs and couches that decorated the meeting room. "I'm afraid that I don't have good news for all of you." She began, catching their attention. "A lot of important information has been brought to my attention recently, and I find that it is imperative for everyone here to know exactly what is going on."

There was quiet as Tsunade waited for each of them to show signs that they were paying fully attention. She paused at Naruto, seeing his serious expression, and knew at that point that they were ready to hear what had to be said.

"As most of you should recall, Kakashi and his team went on a mission yesterday, and as you've probably heard by now, Hinata was attacked by two demons."

It was interesting that not one of them showed signs of surprise; rather, most of them simply narrowed their eyes either in anger or…something else. For instance, Sasuke narrowed his eyes, but inwardly, he was reminded of the confusion he felt during that mission, what with Hinata having a strange deadly aura surrounding her. Of course, that had obviously worn off, seeing as how Sasuke was standing somewhat behind her and he didn't sense that powerful energy he had the other day. It was almost like it had never happened.

Hinata was sitting on one of the couches in the room with Neji on her right and Temari on her left with Shikamaru next to her. Sitting in a separate chair next to Shikamaru was his ever-loyal best friend Choji. Almost directly behind Hinata was Gaara, who stood like a statue with his arms crossed and not an ounce of emotion on his face. An inch or so behind him and off to his right was Sasuke, hands in his pockets and brows drawn together while his eyes made discreet glances at the dark-haired girl on the couch.

One loveseat was occupied by Kankuro and Tenten, and another long couch was taken by Sakura and Ino, who sat next to each other and in-between their designated guardians. Lastly, Kiba and Shino took up chairs near Neji, who for his part briefly wondered why the room they were in was called a meeting room when it resembled more of a living area.

Although, that thought quickly dissipated at hearing Tsunade mention Hinata getting attacked on their previous mission. Just the memory was enough to boil his blood with rage and inward panic at the thought that if Sasuke had been just a moment too late, Hinata would have…

He shut his eyes tightly, refusing to even think about what could've happened. However, his eyes shot wide open upon feeling something touch his hand. Looking to his left, he espied Hinata gazing at him in a concerned manner, her hand hesitantly wrapped around his.

He nodded to her once before offering a small upturn at the corners of his mouth in reassurance. When he could see the relief in her eyes, he overturned his hand so that he could entwine his hand with hers, to which she easily agreed as if it was habit to hold hands with him. In a way, it was a habit, one they had since they were children.

Hinata had to bite back a quick smile at the thought that if she ever had a brother, she imagined that Neji would fit the role perfectly. After all, brothers were supposed to be protective and Neji was the perfect guardian.

"However," Tsunade began speaking again, drawing all the attention back onto her. "That was not the only unfortunate incident that happened on that mission."

Jiraiya stood straighter and took a few steps forward before speaking. "Not too far from here, Kakashi found about a hundred or so demons camped in the area where they were sent. At first, not one of us had any idea why so many demons were in that area, a place nowhere near demon territory. We discussed it with the village leader, and a plan has already been formulated as to what we're going to do about it. Scouting teams will be sent out, but everyone here in the temple," Jiraiya looked pointedly at the young group. "Will stay here. There won't be any missions for you guys for awhile…a long while."

Naruto stood speedily before exclaiming his complaint. "What? You can't be serious!"

"I hate to say it, but Naruto's right. If the demons are out there, shouldn't we be out there too?" Kiba added with just as much vehemence.

Naruto nodded vigorously. "Yeah, so why are we being punished?"

"You're not being punished, you idiot." Jiraiya answered, speaking calmly. "It's for safety reasons that none of you are to leave the village."

Naruto looked ready to shout again, but Tsunade cut him off before he could even inhale. "No one leaves the village, Naruto. If you would take time to think this through before yelling, you would realize that any missions would put the deities in danger. That means Ino."

Naruto snapped his mouth closed, glancing at Ino, knowing that he would never do anything to put her in danger. Just as quickly as he had risen, he sat back down and placed his hand protectively over her knee. She responded silently by wrapping her arm around his.

"Anyway," Tsunade began again. "As Jiraiya said, none of us had any evidential idea for what the demons' intentions were for being within human territory, or more correctly, for having camps in human territory. Now, however, we do." At that, she stared at the deities. "Our deities have recently informed me that…" Tsunade stopped, inwardly debating how she was going to explain this. It was one thing to just say it and another to say it and make sure that they believe it. Finally, she sighed. "Temari, would you mind explaining this? I'm sure everyone will understand better if it came from someone with firsthand experience."

"Right." Temari nodded before standing and facing where the majority of the group was. Her face was serious, yet calm and composed with her arms crossed over her chest. Her stare stayed on the guardians at first. "So, you guys want to know why we were distracted this morning?"

She found it hilarious that each one of the guardians' eyes widened as they appeared nothing more than viciously eager to know the answer to a question they had been asking all day.

Temari inwardly smirked. They would finally get their answer. "As it turns out, all of us deities had the same…uh, 'dream' last night. We were all visited by this lady named Amaterasu. Before you even think about asking, we've asked Lady Tsunade and none of us have any idea who she is, but…we trust her."

Neji looked the epitome of confusion, as all the other guardians probably did as well. He turned his confused gaze to look at Hinata, who lowered her eyes in embarrassment for a moment before finally meeting his eyes and nodding in agreement with what Temari said. He opened his mouth to ask for verbal confirmation, but Temari continued.

"Anyway, here's the gist of what she told us, and she told each of us this separately, and there's no way it's a coincidence. So…she basically warned us about an upcoming war between the demons and the humans. We also know that it's going to be the demons who attack our village, which will be the start of the war." Temari paused and stared at Hinata hesitantly before finishing her announcement. "That's it."

Hinata couldn't help letting out a breath of relief at seeing that Temari and the other girls obviously weren't going to mention how she was supposed to be the reason behind the war. They didn't even tell Tsunade that; especially since all the deities agreed that their personal warnings were going to be kept a secret between them. It was better that way.

"Wait a minute…" Kurenai shook her head in shock, but it was Anko who finished her sentence.

"What the hell do you mean 'that's it'?" She was nearly as loud as Naruto. "You can't just up and say that we're going to have a war on our hands, and then not give any details!"

Temari narrowed her eyes. "I don't mean any disrespect, Miss Anko, but we weren't exactly given a lot of details either."

Jiraiya looked troubled. "What I want to know is who this 'Amaterasu' woman is…and can she really be trusted."

Tsunade looked at him. "If Temari trusts her, that's good enough for me."

"Think so?" he questioned back, and was only rewarded with a long glare.

Lee rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "This does explain your behavior this morning, Sakura, my blossom."

She smiled sadly at him.

"Is this all true?" Kankuro whispered to Tenten.

She nodded, her eyes hiding away a deep secret. "I'm sorry that I was ignoring you."

"Heh," he smirked. "You had good reason, so I don't blame you for acting the way you did."

"Kankuro…" She murmured sorrowfully.

"What is it?"

"Mm…" She shook her head with a strained smile. "Nothing."

The usually loud and rambunctious Ino and Naruto merely exchanged gazes, somehow expressing their thoughts through their eyes and touches.

Gaara and Temari didn't even look at each other, already knowing that the other understood. Shikamaru, on the other hand, kept his stare on Temari, and despite his bored-looking disposition, his eyes had become more calculating.

The only thing Neji managed to do was gape at Hinata with an unreadable gaze, and all she could do in return was bite her lip and fix her eyes on her lap. In doing so, she didn't notice the two other pairs of eyes that were looking intensely at her from behind.

Talk about an awkward moment.

Luckily, the matriarch chose that moment to break the silence. "So, now that we have an upcoming war on our hands, I think it's time that we take action. While we do not know the exact day that the demons will attack, we must ensure that all of us are fully prepared for it." She paused, her stature becoming more like a general than a leader. "Kakashi and Asuma will be gone temporarily on a mission, so I'm leaving Gai in charge of training the security force. Gai, you've dealt with your share of demons before. You know how to fight them."

Gai nodded vigorously. "That I do, my lady."

Tsunade stared at him. "I want you to train those boys and teach them everything there is to know about fighting demons, and please, don't go easy on them."

"I wouldn't dream of it!"

"Good." She glanced at Asuma and Kakashi. "When you two return and after you've rested, you can help Gai and take over where needed."

"Understood." They both replied.

"Deities, you will continue work at the pavilion just as you would any other day. In fact, the only difference in your routine is a longer training session, which means that your music sessions will have to be shortened." She took a breath before beginning again. "Jiraiya will be busy with other matters for awhile, so Anko, I'll be leaving you in charge of the guardians' training. Kurenai, you will take over for Anko with the deities. One other thing, Anko…Every now and then, join with Gai and have the guardians and the security force train together. They need to be aware of the different fighting styles."

Anko smirked. "You got it."

Tenten furrowed her brows before standing. "Wait, Lady Tsunade. I know that it's important that we deities need to get stronger with our powers, but shouldn't we also learn how to fight, too?"

Sakura stood as well. "Tenten is right. I don't think it would be wise if we relied too heavily on our powers. I mean, our powers last only as long as our energy and stamina. When that runs out, we need to be able to know how to defend ourselves."

Naruto stood. "That's why all of you have guardians, Sakura. It's our job to be there to defend you when or if that time comes, right?"

Kankuro raised his hand lazily. "I'd have to agree with Naruto on that one. I don't see the point of you guys learning how to fight when it's _our _job as _your guardians _to do just that."

"Yeah!" Naruto nodded his head before looking at the green-clad young man next to Sakura. "What do you say, bushy-brows?"

Lee stood with his hand still rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he truly considered what was being discussed. "While I do support whatever my blossom wishes to do, I also fully believe that I will never leave her side and always be there to protect her. In that case, Sakura would not need to learn how to fight if I am there."

"Lee!" Sakura exclaimed angrily. "Just who's side are you on anyway?"

"I am sorry, my blossom! Please do not be angry with me!"

Ino began to get angry as well, except as usual, she directed it to her lover/guardian. "Naruto, are you saying that it's normal for us to be weak and forced to rely on you guys?"

"It's why we're your guardians, Ino! It's our job to protect you, just as it's your job to rely on us!"

She snorted, "Oh, that's _really _comforting."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, I think you can guess!"

Naruto growled, showing how irritated and infuriated he was. Instead of facing Ino any longer, he turned towards the other couch in the room. "Neji, Gaara, come on! Say something, will ya?"

Neji stood with his arms crossed over his chest, his gaze directed to Tsunade. "While Sakura does make some logical points, Naruto does as well. The way I see it, if the deities want to learn how to fight, then let them. If that's how they want to spend their time, then so be it. But, in reality, and when that war comes, all the time they put into learning how to fight will be for naught. It will have been completely unnecessary, for as Kankuro said, it is our jobs as guardians to do the fighting for them." He paused glancing at the stunned face of Hinata, and was that a hint of hurt there? "I don't see the advantage of training them as if they're not going to be protected by us."

Despite that Neji stated his opinion logically, it didn't stop Hinata from feeling a hit to her pride. She inwardly felt that Neji might as well have just called them all weak and incapable of taking care of themselves, for that's how she instinctually interpreted his words…and she wasn't the only one.

Temari stood, her eyes blazing with fury. "Neji, you pompous ass!"

"He's right, Tem—"

"Shut the hell up, Naruto! You started this, so now you have to deal with the repercussions, you moron!" She yelled back at him before turning back to Neji. "As for you, you arrogant prick, what you need to realize _and fast _is that we are not some weak and defenseless princesses hiding out in a tower waiting to be saved and protected. You've become so cocky with your _job _that you're obviously overlooking the fact that it's the _deities _who are going to be _directly _involved in this war, and that means that we _will _be fighting, whether you like it or not!"

Neji's fists clenched at his sides, as every part of his body tensed as if he was sorely tempted to rip the other girl's head straight off. It was then that Hinata stood next to her best female friend and faced Neji with surprisingly stern eyes. "Neji…" She watched as his eyes softened marginally upon looking at her.

"You're agreeing with her?" Neji asked in disbelief.

Hinata nodded. "You don't understand, Neji. This war will not be like any other war in the history of this world. Amaterasu told us that this war will change everything. And Temari _is _right—it's the deities who are going to be directly involved, even though we ourselves don't like it." She paused, stepping closer to him and hesitantly touching his tense forearm. "There will be a time when we will get separated from our guardians, and we will only have ourselves to rely on. Wouldn't you want me to know how to fight and defend myself when that happens?"

Neji opened his mouth to reply, but quickly snapped it shut and looked the other way with his brows knotted with anger.

Silence enveloped the room as everyone seemed hesitant to say anything. That is, except for Gaara.

"They need to learn how to fight."

At the sound of his gravelly voice, every eye in the room turned to him, but no one said anything as they were in too much shock that he had actually spoken. However, it was easy to know that whenever Gaara did say something, it was meant to be heard and taken seriously.

Naruto's eyes went wide as he inched forward. "Gaara…!"

Gaara met his gaze levelly. "Hinata is right. Wars and battles are unpredictable. One can never assume anything…especially whether or not they will always have someone to protect and fight for them. To ensure their survival, they need to learn how to fight."

His words made the other guardians pause and seriously consider the situation.

For a brief moment, Naruto had let his guard down, allowing Ino to hear the drift of his thoughts. Despite that they had promised each other that she would never invade his thoughts, she couldn't help hearing him whisper a feeling through his mind. Her once angry expression changed to something more empathetic with tender care. Her hand reached up to his face to cup his cheek, her palm feeling the heat from his skin. When she spoke, it came out as a whisper. "Why are you so afraid?"

He couldn't speak. He could only stare and gulp. "Ino…I…" He exhaled deeply. "I don't like the idea of being separated from you. I don't…like the idea of you having to fight on your own…I don't want you to have to fight at all…"

"Why?" She whispered.

"Because then you could get hurt…and I wouldn't be able to stop it."

Hinata heard their conversation, as she imagined everyone else did as well, and turned to face Neji in curiosity if he felt the same way. What she saw in his eyes was the equivalent to the incapable hopelessness that was etched in Naruto's words…and just like Ino, she felt her hurt pride dissipate, especially upon realizing that the guardians' spiteful words were merely a disguise for their fierce protectiveness…and their fear of failure.

_Neji…_

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The meeting ended abruptly after the argument with Tsunade agreeing with the deities and Gaara, but saying that she would wait until the next morning before discussing any details.

Afterwards, everyone dispersed to their bedrooms, and like the other deities, Hinata was escorted by her guardian. Just the walk to her bedroom seemed so much longer than it usually did, and not a word was spoken between the two; they weren't even holding hands, which was a habit for them. Hinata was so used to Neji reaching out for her hand whenever they walked anywhere, so it was discomforting to see that he instead chose to keep his hands clenched into fists at his sides. Hinata, for her part, kept her hands clasped behind her back. Needless to say, walking to her bedroom together was considerably unnerving.

Upon reaching her door, Hinata eagerly opened it to escape inside.

"Hinata, wait."

She stopped with one hand on the doorknob, but did not turn back to face him yet.

"I…" he cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I wanted to talk to you about…what we discussed in the—"

"It's okay, Neji." She turned her face slightly toward his direction, but she still could only see his shoulder. "I understand. You don't have to say anything."

He seemed to ignore her as he stepped forward into her bedroom doorway, grabbed her gently by the shoulders, and turned her around to face him. When she stared at the floor instead of him, he used his knuckle to lift her chin, silently forcing her to make eye contact with him. "I know that you're strong, Hinata. You know that I know that. I know that you and the other deities are fully capable of handling yourselves in any situation—I know that. I didn't mean for what I said to come out like I thought any different."

"I know." She whispered, placing her hand over his.

"No, Hinata, it's—"

"Neji," She interrupted again softly, stepping closer to him. "I know."

There was something in her eyes that clearly expressed how well she really did understand. After all, they had all heard what Naruto said and he expressed exactly what the rest of them were feeling. Although, Neji had a feeling that even if Naruto hadn't said anything, Hinata still would've understood what he meant by what he said. He cracked a humorless smile before running a hand through her hair and resting his forehead against hers. "So you're not mad at me?" he smirked.

"Not anymore." She repressed a giggle behind a wide smile.

His smirk became more of a smile when he heard her answer. "I'm forgiven now?"

"Mhm," That time, she really did giggle.

His smile widened at the sound. "Did I fail you as a guardian?"

"Of course not. You're the best guardian anyone could ever ask for—"

"You're such a liar." He chuckled, which only elicited another giggle out of her. "That's fine, though. I know that Gaara outranked me today."

Laughter gone, Hinata gazed at him thoughtfully before running her hand affectionately over his cheek. "Gaara…is very different from the other guardians. He's always been capable of never allowing emotion to interfere with his decisions and outlook on a situation. I believe that he's so good at it because he's been doing it all his life. And I know that you're capable of doing that, too…mainly because that's usually how you are."

"But not tonight." He finished what she obviously chose not to say. "I was as emotional as Naruto."

"Mmm…" Hinata shook her head in amusement. "That's impossible."

"Oh, is it?" he chuckled again, and when it died off, his gaze seemed to drift from her eyes to her smiling mouth. "I'm more capable of certain things than you would think…" There, he watched as his fingers traced the delicate lines of her mouth, his eyes glazing over with desire. "I could prove it to you if you'd like…"

_I've been patient with her…I've been waiting for her…How much longer must I wait?_

Hinata could only inhale shakily as she noticed that his face was slowly enclosing upon hers, his head tilted at an angle, and his lips only a few breaths from hers. One of his hands moved to encircle her waist, while the other wove under her hair to hold onto the back of her neck.

"Hinata…" He whispered and she could feel his breath cascade over her lips, and despite the terrified feeling in her gut, her body wouldn't move.

_I don't want to wait anymore…_

It became even worse the closer he got, and for some reason, time either seemed to freeze or slow down immensely. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and while a part of her had no qualms about Neji kissing her, the other part of her seemed to be yelling and screaming for her to pull away, because it wasn't right…because _he _wasn't right. _Move, Hinata, move!_

She felt the tickle of his lips beginning to come into contact with hers, and when she closed her eyes, the face she imagined was definitely not Neji. After all, Neji didn't have red eyes.

"Eh-hem!" A loud voice interrupted their moment, allowing for Hinata to finally back away and Neji to stare with irritation at their intruder.

He was so close! Just a little further, and he could've satisfied a fantasy he had been having for years. But apparently not since they were interrupted by that oh-so-wonderful matriarch of theirs.

_Damn it! _Neji fumed inwardly, gritting his teeth momentarily before he allowed a strained smile to overcome his expression. "Lady Tsunade,"

The matriarch smirked knowingly as she leaned against the wall just next to them. "I apologize if I interrupted anything."

"I was just saying goodnight to Hinata." Neji explained.

She chuckled in response. "Neji, if that's what you call 'saying goodnight', I'm not sure I'd want to see what you'd call 'tucking her in'."

Neji frowned and Hinata blushed heavily.

Tsunade wanted to smile at seeing the young woman's blush, but her brow rose when she realized that she didn't miss the relief in Hinata's eyes when she had interrupted. _Interesting… _She stopped herself from commenting on it, and instead, turned to look at Neji. "We all have a busy day tomorrow, so it'd be wise if you two went to bed and got some sleep. And when I say 'bed', I mean separate beds."

Just as Hinata's blush was receding, it flared up again at the implications of what her matriarch had said.

"Of course, Lady Tsunade." Neji bowed his head respectfully before turning to the red-faced Hinata. He waited until she met his eyes, and he offered her a small smile. "I'll see you in the morning."

Hinata nodded. "Goodnight, Neji."

"Goodnight." He muttered curtly before turning on his heel and walking down the hallway, passing by Tsunade.

The matriarch didn't stop from following him with her eyes until he disappeared around a corner and she could hear a bedroom door close. At that, she turned back to look at Hinata, who bowed to her and murmured a quiet "goodnight, ma'am" before escaping into her bedroom, door closed.

Tsunade smirked again in amusement before continuing on her way towards her intended destination. _It was so much easier when they didn't have overactive hormones. I'm amazed that anyone's still a virgin in this place. _

Her quiet laughter echoed throughout the empty hallway.

* * *

Hinata's hand moved upwards to clench onto the area just above her rapidly beating heart. Her breathing was panicked and her eyes flittingly wild. As she leaned her back against her bedroom door, she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on calming herself.

She couldn't believe that Neji had almost kissed her. If Tsunade hadn't arrived when she did, Neji would've…

Her lips tightened as she closed her eyes even tighter than before, keeping them closed even when she saw dark spots behind her lids.

Hinata wasn't stupid—dense sometimes, but not stupid. She wasn't ignorant to Neji's attentions; she knew that he treated her differently than everyone else…she knew that he held her in a different light. Every time he looked at her, every touch, every caress, she had an instinctual feeling that he didn't think of her as just a friend.

However, she always stopped herself from thinking that Neji might hold romantic intentions toward her, because she couldn't understand _why _he could possibly want her like that. She never thought that there was anything special about her, anything worthy enough to catch any male's attention. It was because of that, that she always convinced herself that Neji was just being friendly, that he was just showing her innocent affection. All the times that he would look at her in that certain way, she would bypass her instincts and assume that it was just his way of showing that he loved her like a sister. All the times that he would caress his fingers over her skin, she assumed that it was just his way of showing that he cared, or trying to convey comfort…as a _friend_. All those times that he would hold her hand or hug her close to his body, she would tell herself over and over that he was just being protective, because her guardian was supposed to be protective; he was just doing his job—that was it.

There was a few other times that she caught him staring intensely at her mouth, but she would override her initial assumptions and convince herself that he was just lost in his thoughts and didn't know what he was doing.

However, after what had just happened, there was nothing she could tell herself that would sway her from instinctually knowing that Neji, her guardian and beloved friend, had romantic feelings for her. Deep in her heart, she knew that Neji…_wanted _her.

Although, one question remained. Did she want him?

She blinked her eyes open before gulping, her heart already knowing the answer.

Yes, she wanted Neji…

But, only as a best friend, brother, and guardian.

That knowledge caused for her to feel a painful twist in her chest, originating from guilt. Guilt because the one time that Neji wanted something from her, she couldn't give it to him. Anything she ever asked of him, he would give it to her without a second thought, no matter what it was.

She hated herself for not being able to return the favor.

Then again…perhaps she wasn't in love with him, but she did love him dearly. Perhaps, over time, she could learn to be in love with him and make him happy, because his happiness meant a lot to her, more than he could possibly understand. If giving herself to him would make him happy, who was she to refuse him?

Despite that a part of her was more than willing to do that, there was another part of her that screamed at her that Neji wasn't the right one for that. That part of her would pull at her heart, yelling that her heart wasn't supposed to belong to Neji…yelling that Neji wasn't the _right _one. He wasn't meant for her, and she wasn't meant for him.

_But why? _Hinata would wonder in agony. _If not Neji, then who? Am I meant to be alone?_

With a deep inhale, Hinata pulled away from the door and away from her thoughts. As she glanced out of her balcony, she could see the full moon staring back at her. Although it still looked full, she could somewhat see the shadows lining one side, signaling that it was beginning to wane.

With a sigh and the knowledge that it would be the last night that she would have her full moon ritual for another month, she quickly, but lazily undressed herself and slipped on her nightgown. The nightgown shown brightly under the moon's gaze, the neckline being low enough to reveal her blood diamond necklace fully.

Without further hesitation, she drifted to her harp and sat down before it, placing her fingers above the strings.

She closed her eyes again, except this time, she was picturing _his _face in her mind. His blood-red eyes, his long dark hair, his expression set in stone…and that occasional upward twitch in the corner of his mouth when he looked at her.

She was saddened that her memories of him were beginning to become blurry and faded. How much longer before they would disappear completely?

It had been ten years, and she had neither seen nor heard from him at all. Didn't he remember his promise to her? Did he even still remember her at all?

When was he coming back to her?

How much longer did she have to wait?

_Itachi…Where are you? Why won't you come back?_

"You're exhausted,"

Hinata gasped and opened her eyes to stare at the originator of the voice, seeing the figure leaning against the railing of her balcony.

"After the kind of day that you had, I would assume that you would be asleep by now."

Hinata slowly shook her head. "I am tired, but…I can't miss tonight."

"Why not?"

"Because I made a promise that every full moon night—"

"I know," he interrupted her. "How long have you been doing this, Hinata?"

She paused before answering him quietly. "Ten years."

Gradually, the redhead stepped closer to her, not stopping until he had reached her side. "You're keeping your promise…but what makes you think that he will keep his?"

She looked up at him with wide, almost hopeless eyes. "He has to…"

Gaara narrowed his eyes fractionally. "He's a demon…He doesn't have to do anything…especially for a human."

"I know…" She whispered in reply, averting her gaze.

"Then why are you still waiting?"

Hinata seemingly didn't have an answer for that. Then, in a dazed voice, unlike her own, she murmured, "He's different…He's not like other demons…He'll come back, I know he will…" She was quiet again until she looked back up at Gaara, her eyes showing a hesitancy to hope. "If it was you, would you come back? If you promised me that you would, would you return…to me?"

"I'm a half-demon."

Hinata persisted. "Would you?"

It was Gaara who was quiet that time, not sure how to answer her. Eventually, he figured that the best answer he could offer was an honest one. "I don't know…but, I would like to believe that I would."

A ghost of a smile lit up her lips before she stood and wrapped her arms around his lean torso. With her head resting against his chest, she still held onto her smile. "Thank you…"

Normally, Gaara would awkwardly return her embrace, but lately, it was becoming painfully difficult just to be near her. In response, all he could do was grunt and resist the urge to hiss at the burning sensation that radiated off of her.

Hearing this, Hinata pulled away and glanced at him worriedly. "What's wrong?"

He carefully backed away a little further. "It's draining…"

"Draining?"

"Your necklace protects you…even from those who are no threat to you. I feel my energy being drained if I'm too close."

Hinata furrowed her brows before gazing down at her necklace, cradling it in her hand. "Does it feel like you're burning…?"

Gaara nodded. "A little."

Hinata nodded in understanding. "That happened to the demons, too…when I was attacked. One would keep his distance because I think he sensed it. The other one got too close…" She gulped. "And then he fell to the ground, saying that he was on fire, that he was burning…" She paused briefly. "I'm still not sure if it's just the necklace protecting me, or…if it's…him."

Gaara stared at her levelly. "Objects hold no power on their own. Is that not your demon's blood encased in the diamond?"

Hinata nodded confusedly.

"His blood, his power…It's only logical to say that it's him who's protecting you."

Nothing was said between them for what felt like awhile. Then, Gaara began to speak again, but in a more subdued tone.

"That necklace holds a part of himself. No demon would give that to a human, no man would give that to a woman unless he intended to come back for it."

Of all the reassurances Hinata could've asked for, she should've known that only Gaara could really tell her exactly what she needed to hear. Only Gaara would give her the blunt truth, no matter how painful it would be. It was at that thought that she knew that of all the people to know her secret, Gaara was the perfect confidant.

Hinata genuinely smiled, her heart feeling light once more. As she gazed at her friend, she first noticed his hard and seemingly detached eyes and then the dark lines surrounding those eyes. "You haven't slept in awhile, have you?"

"I will tonight."

Hinata nodded, smile still on her face. "I'll be sure to let Naruto know so he doesn't try to wake you again." She giggled in remembrance of the time that the blonde attempted to wake his redheaded friend. In summation, Naruto failed miserably. He wasn't attacked or in danger, just immensely frustrated. Although Gaara rarely slept, when he did, he couldn't be woken by anything or anyone. He was possibly the deepest sleeper Hinata had ever known.

She remembered how Naruto tried yelling for twenty minutes straight and Gaara didn't even twitch in his sleep. Of all of Naruto's attempts, nothing worked, and ever since then, nobody tried to wake Gaara since they knew how fruitless it would be.

Gaara nodded in response to her statement. "He would only be further irritated if he did try."

Hinata hid a giggle behind her hand.

Gaara became all-too-serious once again. "Before I leave, there's something I wanted to talk to you about."

Hinata's laughter stopped as she stared at her friend curiously. "Yes?"

"The dream you had…"

Hinata's eyes widened almost imperceptibly.

"Who do you say it was that told you about the war?"

"Um," Hinata briefly averted her gaze before staring at him again. "She said her name was Amaterasu, but…none of us know who that is."

"Lady Tsunade…"

Hinata shook her head. "She didn't know either. Lady Tsunade even sent Miss Kurenai to do research on the name, but…" Hinata shrugged. "She found nothing."

"And yet you trust Amaterasu."

With the barest hint of hesitation, Hinata nodded again. "I can't explain it really well, but…there was just something about her…something almost familiar and comforting. I felt that I could trust her the same way that I could trust you and Temari and Neji."

Gaara seemed to accept the answer, but it didn't seem like his questions were done. "I could tell by how Temari acted after the meeting that there was something else on her mind, something besides the war. And I could tell that much from you, as well."

Hinata couldn't help but bite her lip in anxiety at how perceptive Gaara always seemed to be.

"There's more to tell, more than you even told the matriarch. I would like to know."

"Why…?" Hinata whispered.

"You may believe that what Amaterasu told you only involves you and can only be resolved by you, but that's not true. I am Temari's guardian, and you…are my friend. Whatever it is that involves you two, it involves me as well. I don't think it would be wise for you deities to think that you are alone in this."

Hinata nodded, feeling inwardly grateful that she had so many friends to rely on in troubled times, but she knew that she couldn't quite supply a good answer for her friend. "To be honest…there's not really much to tell. What we were told…None of us really have any idea what Amaterasu meant. What she said was so vague that there was no possible way for us to truly understand it…at least, not until it happens."

"Hm,"

"It's not that we don't want to tell any of you…it's just that we don't want to say anything unless we know the details and how to prevent it."

"I see…"

"I can still tell you, if you want."

"No," Gaara answered quickly. "That's not necessary. I assumed that you would have more details on the war, but apparently not."

There was a brief moment of silence before Gaara eventually nodded to her his goodnight and began to turn on his heel to leave.

"Gaara, wait," Hinata stopped him. She watched as he turned his head in her direction. "Thank you."

His brow furrowed in question.

"For agreeing with us at the meeting, about us learning to fight. Thank you,"

He nodded once.

"And also for being there for me, and…" She smiled in laughter. "Helping me in a way that no one else can."

Gaara didn't nod that time; instead, he faced her directly. "Naruto…is a friend to everyone. I…am merely trying to follow his example…and yours."

Hinata smiled widely, clasping her hands behind her back. "You were a good friend before following Naruto's example."

She could've sworn that Gaara almost smiled, but she would never know since all he did was turn on his heel and disappear in a swirl of sand.

Hinata's smile did not leave her face even as she settled down before her harp, and began playing her instrument and the song that always brought her thoughts closer to the one who was always closest in her heart.

* * *

"Dude, when this war comes," Naruto punched the palm of his other hand in anticipation. "Those demons aren't going to know what hit 'em! We're so going to kick their asses, man!"

"Tch," Sasuke folded his arms over his chest. "And this is why you would never be part of the security force."

"Eh? What are you getting at, Sasuke?"

"You're too loud, moron. You're supposed to be listening and watching for threats, not letting them know your position."

"Hey! The way I see it, it's better that they know where we are. That way, when they see me, they'll back off. You'd have to be pretty stupid to want to mess with Naruto Uzumaki!"

Sasuke raised a brow. "Yeah, one loser is perfectly matched for another loser."

"Yeah! See, that's exactly what I'm—Wait a minute, are you calling me a loser?"

The young dark-haired half-demon rolled his eyes. "I have been for years and you're still not used to it? That just makes you even more of a _loser_."

Naruto growled in anger just before he planted his feet and pointed at his "best friend". "That's it, Sasuke! You and me right now!" He pulled up his sleeves. "And you can count on me not holding back! I'll hit you so hard, you'll be out for a month!"

Sasuke smirked. "You couldn't hit the broadside of the Konoha wall—What makes you think you can hit _me_?"

"Oh, you're so dead, you bastard!"

"Go ahead and try." Sasuke chuckled.

"You're going to wish you had kept your big mouth shut!"

"I'd say the same for you, but that seems impossible."

"Shut up!"

"Why don't both of you shut up?" A new voice interrupted their quarrel.

"Geez, you two are troublesome when you're together." A second voice added.

Naruto calmed immediately and stared over at the two figures approaching them. "Kiba? Shikamaru? What the hell are you guys doing here?"

Kiba's brow arched while one of his hands rested lazily on his large dog's head. "It's time to switch shifts, or did you forget that already?"

"Oh yeah," Naruto laughed sheepishly while scratching the back of his head. "Time sure went by fast."

"I can't imagine why." Shikamaru murmured sarcastically.

Sasuke stared at Kiba. "Aren't you usually with Shino?"

He shrugged in reply. "Yeah, but the matriarch changed everything up tonight. Aren't you usually with Master Kakashi?"

"Usually, but not again for awhile." Sasuke answered calmly. "Kakashi and Asuma have that mission in the morning, so the matriarch ordered them to sleep all night instead of doing their shifts."

"So, to fill in the gaps," Shikamaru added with a lazy tone. "She chose Naruto and Kankuro."

"Heh," Kiba smirked. "I can understand why she chose Kankuro, but why Naruto? Why not Gaara or Neji or—hell—even Lee?"

Naruto glared before speaking. "Granny Tsunade told me that Gaara's sleeping tonight."

Shikamaru offered a side-glance to his new shift-partner. "And she didn't choose Neji for the same reason that she didn't choose Lee. Both of them would be too obsessed with watching over their designated deities' rooms that they would forget that they had to watch over the entire temple."

Kiba furrowed his brows in confusion before pointing a thumb at the blonde. "Naruto would do that, too, though."

"Normally, yes, but that's why she put him with Sasuke. Naruto would be distracted from peeking in at Ino because he'd be too busy fighting with Sasuke."

"Right…" Kiba slowly nodded. "And…Lady Tsunade told you all of this?"

Shikamaru shrugged before gazing up at the stars. "Not really. It's just a theory."

"Whatever," Naruto interrupted. "So, can we go to bed now?"

"Go ahead." Kiba smirked.

Naruto shouted in excitement before practically running towards the roof exit to go back into the temple. Sasuke began to follow after him but paused beside the other two. "Whose shift is after you two?"

Kiba answered readily. "Shino and Kankuro, I think. Then Choji and Master Gai take the last one."

Never tearing his eyes away from the night sky, Shikamaru murmured. "I feel bad for Choji. It's got to suck being paired with the green beast."

Kiba laughed without humor. "I was paired with him once, and—no joke—I was two seconds away from having Akamaru tear out his throat."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted with a smirk before continuing his walk back into the building, looking forward to a deep sleep.

* * *

As the moon slowly moved in the night sky, signaling that hours had passed, a pair of red eyes glowed from the shadows of the dense forest. The rest of his body became more visible as he walked out of the forest and found himself facing against the high Konoha wall.

One hand extended forward to touch the cold stone, palm brushing across its rough texture, noticing once again that he felt no protective barrier.

As silent as a thief in the night, he jumped onto the top of the wall, scanning the surrounding area for any presences. He sensed two humans walking on the roof of the temple, heading towards a certain point opposite his position. _Security. _Other than that, it seemed that every other being in the temple was fast asleep.

Based on memory alone, he knew where Hinata's room was, but what kept him from heading straight there automatically was the thought that it might not be her room anymore. That's what led him to quickly inhale the air around him, searching for her scent.

Though her scent had somewhat changed in ten years, there was not a doubt in his mind that it was indeed her. Thus, he jumped from the wall, aiming for her balcony.

He landed on her balcony railing, with only the sound of silence being heard from his muted entrance.

Crouched like a predator waiting to attack, Itachi's gaze was penetrating as he looked upon the covered-up form lying in the bed not too far from him, her face turned opposite his direction.

The thin-material curtains floated in the air, mimicking the waves on the ocean, and occasionally blurring Itachi's view of the large bed. Behind him, the moon shone like a beacon in the sky, illuminating the majority of the room, but keeping the corners in shadow.

_Her room hasn't changed much at all in ten years._

Ignoring everything in the room besides the figure lying dormant in the bed, he slowly stepped from the railing and onto the floor, his steps staidly and quiet.

Stalking towards the bed slowly, his eyes scanned the hidden body, which was curled in on itself underneath the covers with her long, dark hair being the only thing visible. Itachi's gaze remained on the long tendrils spilling over the pillow and her shoulders, glowing almost a blackish blue in the moonlight.

_Her hair has grown…_

Then, she shifted. He froze.

His eyes focused on her intently, waiting for any sign that she was awake.

The pendant was throbbing in a way that Hinata had never experienced. It was like it had a heartbeat of its own and it was enough to wake her out of a deep sleep. She breathed in deeply before inching her eyelids open to stare drowsily at the wall.

With slow and tired movements, she gradually forced herself to sit up and swing her legs over the edge of the bed. Just as slowly, she stood on wobbly legs and stared down at the pendant that rested against her skin. Cradling it in her palm, she inwardly wondered why it was acting so strangely. Was it warning her about something? Was there danger nearby? After all, that was the only time it acted up.

Itachi couldn't find it in himself to move or say anything. All he could do was stare incredulously at this figure ahead of him. There was no possible way that was Hinata. The figure didn't look anything like Hinata. She carried her scent, and he could sense the pendant on her, but she looked nothing like he remembered.

But, he couldn't see her face; she was turned away from him still.

Without any thought, he shifted forward.

Hinata's head snapped to attention at the tiny sound of something moving against her floor just behind her. Her heart began to race in fear as her hands clenched tightly around her pendant, hoping it would protect her. She closed her eyes tightly, knowing that there was something in her room, and knowing that she needed to face it…and then scream for help.

However, she was having a difficult time mustering up any courage just to turn around.

It was almost completely silent as she stood completely still and Itachi stared at the back of her. All he could hear was the sound of her breathing and the rapid beating of her heart.

She knew he was there…even though she probably didn't know it was _him_.

He figured that he would have to say something, but he couldn't think of a single thing to say. Glancing to his right, he spotted a large harp and the seat placed before it. Of course she still played. After all, he had heard her play not too long ago when he was just outside the Konoha walls. Unfortunately, he had to wait awhile longer until the security shift changed before he could exit the forest fully and approach the Konoha wall.

Finally, a thought occurred to him, something he could say to ease her fears.

Hinata had been focusing intensely on her breathing, while yelling inwardly at herself to move already. _Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out. Move Hinata! Just turn around and__—_

"I heard you play."

She froze, knowing that voice all too well. Suddenly, her heart was beating rapidly for a whole other reason.

Little by little, she began to turn around, keeping her eyes on the ground until she was facing the origin of his voice. Just as unhurriedly, her eyes began to trail from his feet up to his legs…his torso and arms…his shoulders and neck…and then his face and those deep red eyes. She exhaled shakily.

_Itachi…_

His eyes unnoticeably widened when her full frontal view was faced towards him. She was definitely different than he remembered her to be.

She was taller, her hair longer as it flowed over her shoulders, and her face and body…was no longer that of a little girl's—she was a woman now.

He would never admit to even thinking it, but…she was beautiful…She held such a serene beauty, and the way that the moonlight shone on her, he knew that she belonged under the moon's gaze…She belonged in the darkness. And Itachi _was _the darkness.

With nervous hesitation, she began to walk toward him, not stopping until she was not even a foot away from him.

She had to look up into his face since she was shorter than him, her nose level with his chin. "Itachi…" She whispered, her hand reaching up dreamily to rest her palm against his cheek. When she felt the inner warmth of his skin covered by a thin layer of cold from the outside, she gasped quietly, feeling the reality of the touch of his skin.

His facial expression showed nothing to betray what it felt like to have her touch his skin. He could feel her fingers moving against his cheek, her smile becoming relieved and her eyes looking dazed as if stuck in a dream. "You're not the little girl I remember."

Hinata's eyes found his again, and she couldn't suppress her giggle. "It has been ten years…and I'm a human."

"You age quickly." He added quietly, his eyes scanning every part of her face. "You've changed a lot."

"Mm," Hinata smiled softly, brushing her fingers against his bangs. "You haven't changed at all. You're just as I remember you." When she found his eyes again and realized what she had been doing, she blushed and backed away, returning her hands to her sides. If anything had changed in concern with her memories of him, it was the fact that she never noticed how attractive he was until now…when she could appreciate it. As a little girl, he was simply just easy on the eyes, but now…having his eyes on her made her heart skip a beat.

As an adult and a fully grown woman, Hinata knew a handsome face when she saw one, and Itachi's face probably surpassed all others. How could a demon be so beautifully and dangerously attractive?

As another moment of silence began to stretch over them, neither could find anything to say; they could only gaze at each other, rememorizing each other's features.

It was strange that during the past ten years, they both secretly planned how the reunion would go, what they would say and do. Now that it was finally happening, neither could remember what exactly they had planned.

Finally, after gulping nervously, Hinata opened her mouth to speak. "Do you think…it would be okay if…if you could take me to the meadow? I haven't seen it since you left…"

He paused before answering her, glancing out of the balcony, listening and sensing for the positions of the two security humans. When he was satisfied with their positions, he turned back to her and nodded. "Hold on," was all he muttered before picking her up into his arms and heading for the balcony.

Hinata made a little noise of panic at his impossibly fast movements. One second she was standing and within the next second, she was in his arms, her own arms wrapped around his neck for security and balance.

She was instinctually prepared to speak out her protests, but it all died away into a muffled whimper when he speedily jumped from her balcony railing all the way to the top of the Konoha wall. Itachi stopped there and glanced down at her with a raised brow, amusement glinting in his eyes.

Hinata had her face buried in his chest, but when she realized that they had stopped, she glanced up at him with wide eyes. "I remember that being a lot easier when I was little…"

Itachi had the urge to chuckle, but repressed it expertly. "You were also asleep every time I did it."

Hinata nodded, eyes still wide with fear. "That might have been why…"

Feeling the urge to chuckle again, he merely smirked slightly. "If that's true, then you might want to focus on holding in your next scream."

"Why's that? What do you—" Another scream became lodged in her throat as he jumped from the wall, heading towards the ground below.

She felt the graceful thud of his landing, and she couldn't manage to loosen the tight grip she had around his neck.

"Open your eyes." Itachi murmured and waited until she peeled her eyes open and stared at him with that same fear.

"That was terrifying."

His smirk became slightly more pronounced. "Can you walk?"

Not trusting herself to speak anymore than she had to, she nodded slowly while carefully removing her arms from around his neck.

With gentle movements, unlike his character, he let her down, watching analytically for any signs that she couldn't walk properly yet. He was assured quickly when she took a few deep breaths before walking a few steps forward. He continued to watch her and wondered why she suddenly stopped before the entrance to the forest. "Do you remember the way?"

Hinata gazed back at him with a slow smile stretching over her lips, her earlier fears suddenly gone. "I think so. Although, it has been awhile." She murmured and then began her trek through the trees.

Itachi walked beside her, and both of them stayed quiet during the short walk. Despite that nothing was said, Itachi couldn't stop thinking about how much she had grown. Her voice was as soft as he remembered, but it had obviously deepened with maturity. Everything about her had become more mature.

He supposed that it was naïve of him to think that when he returned, she would still be the same little girl he remembered, but that was the only way he knew her. Seeing her presently, it was like he would have to get to know her all over again.

Her looks had changed, of course, but was that the same for her personality?

Were there any remnants of the little girl he remembered inside the grown-up woman's body?

"I think I see it…!" She whispered in excitement before running passed a few more trees and into an open area. After breaking away from the dense forestry, Hinata slowed to a halt and gazed upon the familiar meadow, blanketed by the illumination of the night sky and bright moon.

It was just as she remembered, and yet, so very different. The plants weren't dead, but many of the flowers that used to be there weren't there anymore. With her walk becoming more sedated, she slowly made her way to the middle of the clearing and knelt down.

Itachi watched from the edge of the clearing, his back inches from the trunk of a tree. His eyes roamed her form carefully until he settled his gaze on her fingers, which had begun to brush against the blades of grass, barely touching them.

When he saw stems erupting from the ground and growing into buds, he felt surprised at all the flowers that began to bloom. Every flower was different, and there were so many that the meadow had become nearly enveloped in perfumed plants.

Though a tranquil smile flirted with her lips, her entire demeanor seemed to emanate a mix of serenity and solemn relief. Keeping her gaze on the flower she was currently caressing, her lips began to form words directed to her companion. "You were gone for awhile…I wasn't sure if you were going to come back…" Her gaze lifted to meet his. "I guess…I really missed you all these years…and I never forgot you…not once." Her smile shifted into a light-hearted laugh.

"Hm," Itachi began to approach her slowly, finding a familiar large boulder in which he lowered himself to the ground to lean against. "My mission turned out to be quite a bit longer than I assumed."

Hinata nodded in understanding.

"You've mastered your gift." he stated.

She merely smiled bashfully in return. "The other deities and I…have been going through training every day since you left. I wouldn't say that I've mastered my power, but…I know that I've gotten stronger."

He lifted his chin fractionally in some semblance of a nod. "What else?"

Her brows lifted in question. "What do you mean?"

"What else happened while I was gone?" he clarified.

"Um," Hinata sat back and pulled her knees up to her chest. "I, um…I work at a pavilion now…"

His eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly.

She continued in explanation. "We set up a pavilion in the village not too long ago, and it's mainly used as a hospital. So…if any of the villagers are sick or wounded, they come to the pavilion and…we treat them."

He continued to gaze at her, obviously listening intently, but not saying anything.

She paused as if waiting for him to say something or at least change his expression. So when he didn't, she continued to talk, filling him in on the parts of her life that he missed.

It was almost like she was explaining to a friend or a relative things about herself that they didn't know or understand. It was almost like the conversation she always imagined having with her parents if she ever met them again. She always dreamed of telling them all her accomplishments and activities that they missed by not ever coming to see her or returning any of her letters.

Telling Itachi all of that reminded her of that long-ago dream of her reunion with her parents, but in truth, it wasn't _really _like that.

In fact, talking to Itachi and despite that she hadn't seen nor talked to him in ten years…it was…comfortable and normal. She felt nervous at first, uncertain if he was really still the same demon she knew when she was a child, but that feeling began to fade the longer that she was in his presence.

She was beginning to feel as though he never left. However, that wasn't completely the case. While she did feel relieved and happy to be near him again, she also knew instinctually that whatever relationship they had when she was young was no longer there. That familiar, friendly, and carefree feeling she used to have around him as a little girl was not very much present anymore.

She was so thrilled to see him again and talk to him and be near him, but something was definitely different between them now. She couldn't explain or even identify it, and unknown to her knowledge, Itachi couldn't either. All that they knew was that everything had changed almost, and they couldn't exactly go back to the way things were.

Hinata supposed that distance and many years had the ability to do that to any relationship, no matter how strong.

Of course, none of that stopped her from wanting to renew that relationship with him. She had missed him so terribly, feeling incomplete when he wasn't near. Now that he was back, it was like her heart had become whole again, and all the pain from her past had disappeared.

It scared her somewhat to realize that her feelings depended so much on him, a demon. It scared her that in such a short time of knowing him as a child, she had become attached in a way that she couldn't fully comprehend.

It was almost terrifying to realize that the only time she felt truly like herself was when he was nearby, where she could reach him.

She couldn't help but wonder if he felt the same way. Could demons even be capable of having those kinds of attachments?

Noticing her lapse of silence and apparent deep thought, Itachi considered bringing her back to the present. "You've been wearing the pendant."

Hinata snapped back to attention, albeit a little dazed. "What?" She gazed down at the necklace and the blood diamond resting against her chest. "Oh…yes," she smiled at him. "I keep against my skin, just like you told me to."

"I know." he stated, somewhat indifferently. "I felt it when you were attacked."

_By the demons…_She finished inwardly, knowing immediately what he was talking about. She opened her mouth to reply, but ended up biting her lip instead before smiling humorlessly. "Lady Tsunade—I mean, the matriarch at the temple…A couple years ago, she began to send us and our guardians and the security force out on missions outside the village." She paused briefly. "When the two demons attacked me, we were on a mission at the time."

His eyes narrowed again, almost looking angry. "And where was your guardian?"

She noticed his irritation and looked away before murmuring her answer quietly. "He was scouting the perimeter."

"And left you alone in a demon-infested forest." Itachi stated, his tone beginning to sound heated.

Feeling like she had to defend her guardian, she stared at her demon friend with urgency. "No! I mean, yes, but we didn't know that at the time. We weren't even in demon territory, and plus…I had someone else who was protecting me." She watched as Itachi kept his narrowed gaze on her, silently telling her what he was wanting to say. She sighed. "But…he fell asleep, and I…wandered off…" She felt ashamed, or more accurately, she felt like she usually did whenever she was being reprimanded or chastised.

"That's when you were attacked." Itachi added with no sort of question in his tone.

Rather than speaking, Hinata nodded, keeping her head lowered while her fingers picked at her gown.

After a long moment of silence passed, Hinata kept waiting for him to begin insulting the abilities of her guardian and Sasuke, but it never came. What could he possibly be thinking about? Seeing as she didn't know, all she could do was sit quietly as if awaiting punishment.

Itachi thought of no such thing; at least, he wasn't thinking of punishing _her_. He just felt like he needed to punish the idiots who were supposed to be protecting her—the idiots who obviously failed at their job. All they had to do was protect her; it was their only task, and they couldn't even do that.

She had _two _protectors it sounded like, and while one ran off, the other fell asleep. He was beginning to seriously doubt that Konoha was really as formidable as it's reputation claimed.

Even so, it was in the past and Hinata was clearly still alive…and as it turned out, the only one who actually saved her that day was him, and he was _miles _away. He couldn't figure out what made him more angry—the fact that she had useless protectors or the fact that he was so obviously the only one who could protect her properly. It agitated him even more to know that she was safer in a demon's care than in the care of her own race.

Hinata glanced at him through her lashes, preparing herself to speak with her voice only coming out as barely a whisper. "Thank you…"

His reverie was cut short at hearing her voice, and his eyes immediately flicked to meet hers.

Hinata offered him a thankful smile. "I know that you helped me that day…I could feel you…and I think I heard your voice…I know that you were the one who saved me." She giggled meekly. "Although, I'm not entirely sure how."

His gaze fell away from hers to stare at the moon instead, though he wasn't really focused on it. "I told you that the pendant contains my blood and energy. As long as you wear it, I can sense your emotions and when you're in danger." He made a side-glance at her. "Through the pendant, I can enforce my will upon anything with demon blood that may mean you harm."

She felt her eyes widen in shock. "You can sense my emotions? Because of this?" In her hand, she held the pendant.

He didn't even blink. "Yes, but only when you wear it against your skin."

Hinata gulped, not entirely sure how she was supposed to react to that.

"I always knew when you were angry or distraught…panicked or terrified…content, excited, determined…Although I never knew the reason, I was always aware of what you were feeling for every second of the day."

Her body felt frozen as all she could seem to do was sit still and stare at him with brows slightly furrowed and eyes filled with indescribable emotion. _He always knew…He was always aware of me…could always feel me…_She sighed breathily. _In a way…he never left me…_ That thought managed to make her smile in pure happiness.

All those times that she felt alone and abandoned, she really never was.

Itachi continued to watch her carefully, analyzing every emotion that passed from her to the pendant to him, and then he would watch what each emotion would resemble on her face.

He was definitely surprised at her reaction, although he didn't show it.

He had expected her or anyone for that matter to be angry when she/they found out about some demon being able to sense their emotions through a diamond. She wasn't, though. It made her happy for some reason.

Hinata stood up, her mood once again back to contentment. After brushing herself off, she began to walk around at a carefree pace, occasionally brushing her hands against various plant-life, helping it to grow a little more.

Itachi continued to watch her silently, practically memorizing the behaviors of this new, mature Hinata.

Hinata enjoyed the companionable silence, relishing in the feel of the night air and the way that the moon beams lit up her skin and certain flowers. As she did this, she could almost see perfectly the different memories from her childhood play out in the meadow before her.

It was easy to imagine Itachi in his present position, since he used to sit there a lot when she visited as a little girl. But, he would also find different trees to lean against, and wherever he was, he always watched her with a tint of curiosity in his eyes.

She could almost imagine seeing her younger self running through the flowers, picking a few, but mostly lying down or playing her little harp. Hinata told herself that she would have to find a way to bring her harp to the meadow again so she could play for him. No doubt he would be pleased at how much better she's gotten.

Then she imagined seeing her other playmate, Mr. Wolf, run into the area, nearly tackling her small form and licking her face till it became wet. Her dear wolf friend…

Where was he?

Hinata stopped what she was doing and looked around in confusion. Where _was _Mr. Wolf?

She had been so focused on Itachi's return that she completely forgot about her animal companion and his whereabouts.

Itachi noticed her change in mood and waited until she was staring at him, and only then did she speak.

"Itachi…Have you seen Mr. Wolf? Have you seen him at all since you left?"

He shook his head. "No. He might not even be alive anymore. He's an animal, and animals don't have long life-spans."

"I-I know…" Hinata murmured. "If he's alive, I hope he's alright. I haven't seen him in so long…" _I wanted to see him again…At least just once more…_

Itachi stood, noticing that she still seemed to be in her own little world. His eyes turned away in thought. _They'll be switching shifts again soon. I'll need to get her back before then. _He turned to look at her again. "Come. It's time to go back."

Her eyes widened in shock, and not without a twinge of panic. "Go back? Already?"

He nodded once. "There will be other nights."

She began to smile slowly. "Like tomorrow night?"

Itachi felt a flash of hope come from her. He could also feel the corner of his mouth twitch upwards again. "And the night after, if that is what you want."

Her smile grew in excitement before she ran over to him and threw her arms around his torso, burying her face in his chest. "You're really back this time…and for good, right?"

He felt pleased to hear those whispered words, and he couldn't deny that it made him feel…more pleased to know that just his presence made her indescribably happy. "For awhile, yes." His answer seemed quieter than normal, but he knew she heard.

She wasn't looking at his face, and he wasn't looking at hers. Hinata seemed to be enjoying the embrace, but he didn't seem to notice. Itachi, for his part, was too occupied with remembering the last time that she had been as close to him.

He remembered that it didn't bother him the way that her young, small body had fit into his arms then. Presently, he certainly didn't hate the way her more mature body fit against his. Her curves against his chest and stomach…her warm breath penetrating the part of his clothes that covered his chest…the way her long, dark hair cascaded past her shoulders and down her back…

Yes, she fit much better against him than she did ten years ago, and he didn't mind that.

His fingers touched the strands of her hair, testing its texture and feel, noting its silkiness and the way it shimmered in the moonlight.

After watching the strands fall through his fingers like water, he turned his head just slightly, enough to be able to conduct his last test before he would back away from her.

Her scent…

As a little girl, he remembered that her scent carried a mixture of things—mostly the smells of purity and tenderness and carefree intoxication. Her scent was appealing back then, but now…

By the goddess, _now _it was even more appealing. While he could still smell the remnants of her long-ago childhood scent, he could also detect so many new elements. Underneath the obvious smell of lavender oil, he could detect her real scent, the one that only belonged to her.

She still smelled of innocence and tenderness, but also hard determination and wisdom…something maternal and loving, and…something else that could only be described as elegant.

Once he had memorized her new scent, his attention focused on her face and the way she seemed so at peace with her arms around him and her cheek resting against his chest. He could tell that her eyes were closed in contentment, but he could also see that she was hiding the fact that she was tired.

He felt the need to shake his head or roll his eyes at how even as an adult, she was still attempting to fake just how not awake she was.

Without hesitation and in a movement so quick that it made Hinata's eyes open in surprise, Itachi lifted her until one arm was under her knees and the other around her back.

Her arms instinctually went around his neck for support and her blush became more enflamed.

He saw that she was opening her mouth to say something, but it died into a yelp when he started at a run towards the Konoha wall.

She kept her eyes closed, not knowing how to react to his intense speed. Not even Kiba, Lee, or Akamaru could match Itachi's speed, that was for sure.

Itachi didn't stop his pace when he reached the high wall, only paused long enough to jump, lifting them both in the air before landing atop the wall. Though Hinata wasn't making anymore sounds, he could tell by the way her arms tightened around him that she wasn't a fan of speed and heights.

He chuckled silently before making sure that the security's attention was elsewhere. Only then did he leap to her balcony, land on the railing, step down to the floor, and relinquish his grip on her body.

Hinata felt him lower her to the ground, her feet touching first and then her eyes opened, her hands shaking. "I don't think I'll be getting used to that anytime soon."

Itachi smirked, but just barely. "If you want to visit your precious meadow tomorrow night, then you're going to have to get used to it."

She sighed with a pout. "I suppose…It was so much easier when I was little…" Suddenly her pout became a hopeful smile as she looked at him. "Or, you could just take me there while I'm still sleeping."

He raised a brow, sensing her humor. "But that's not very amusing for me."

She laughed breathily before smiling at him again with her hands clasped behind her back. Her smile soon faded, however.

The longer she gazed at him, the more she wondered and inwardly fretted. Stepping closer to him, she felt the need to touch his face again. "I keep thinking that I'll go to sleep…and when I wake up, you returning would've only been a dream." she whispered.

His gaze was unreadable, knowing inwardly that the same thought had crossed his mind for a brief moment. He didn't speak and only lowered his eyes to stare at the pendant that was resting easily on her chest. His fingers reached for it and brushed against her soft skin as he lifted it, not noticing her sharp inhale.

With expert ease, he tugged at it, releasing it from its knot and letting the whole necklace fall into his palm. His thumb brushed over the diamond before his eyes found hers again. "When you wake up and realize that this is not around your neck anymore, then you will know that it was not a dream."

Hinata smiled shakily. "You'll come back again to see me, won't you? Tomorrow night?"

He raised a brow, the corner of his mouth uplifting into a smirk. "I don't think I have much of a choice." He immediately turned on his heel and stepped onto the balcony railing. Before leaving, he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "Go to sleep, Hinata."

She smiled at the familiar words. "Goodnight, Itachi…"

He nodded, and then in the blink of her eye, he was gone.

The curtains waved in the breeze, and the moon lighted her room.

All was silent once again, and when Hinata rested her hand against her chest where the pendant used to be, she felt thrilled and lonely at the same time.

Lonely because her beloved pendant was no longer against her skin.

Thrilled because it reminded her that Itachi, her dearly loved demon friend, had returned.

It was so surreal having him back…but she had never felt more complete.

"_**I love you, Itachi. You're my friend."**_

* * *

"_All my thoughts are with you forever  
'Till the day we'll be back together  
I will be waiting for you."_

_-Within Temptation, "Bittersweet"_

_

* * *

_

**My, my, my…Such a long chapter, and it took me awhile to finish. But it's done now!**

**You guys finally got your reunion! Come on, tell me how happy you are. I know that you're as thrilled as I was to finally have this happen.**

**Now, though, we get into the main "beef" of the story. With Itachi back, how could we not?**

**ANYWAY, leave me some love and appreciation for the reunion chapter!**

**Thank you!**

**Tranquilwriter**


	21. Confession

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**IMPORTANT: I would like to thank ****NARUTOANGEL**** for the fanart that she drew recently. They are two of the best Divinity pics I've seen so far! Please take time to check them out (links on my profile) and comment them for her, because they are awesome!**

**To ****WINTERKAGUYA****: In gratitude for your incredible review, I dedicate this chapter to you :)**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XX**

**Confession**

* * *

"_The saddest thing in the world, is loving someone who used to love you." _

_- Anonymous_

"_You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back."_

_- Barbara De Angelis_

* * *

Hinata only managed to get in a few hours of sleep before finding herself wide awake at dawn. It had been a restless night for her. She couldn't wait for the day to pass into night again so she could see Itachi.

She still couldn't believe that he was back—finally back. But when her hand fell to rest on her chest, noticing that her necklace was no longer there, remembering that Itachi had taken it…she smiled in giddy happiness.

He was definitely back, and it thrilled her to no end.

She was so excited that all she could manage to do was lean against her balcony railing, and instead of gazing at the sunrise, she stared out at the forest just beyond the Konoha walls. With her elbows resting on the railing and her face cupped in her palms, Hinata continued to stare dazedly at the area where she assumed the meadow resided.

She wondered if that was where Itachi slept, or maybe he slept somewhere else. She never thought to ask before, but she knew that she would have to now…now that he was back for good.

Her smile widened.

A tentative knock sounded at her door.

Immensely surprised at the sound, and even more so at the possibility that someone other than herself was awake at sunrise, she nearly skipped over to her bedroom door and opened it in one movement.

Teal eyes gazed back at her in shock. "Wow…" Temari murmured. "I didn't expect you to be awake already. I just knocked for the sake of being polite; I had every intention to barge in here and wake you up whether you wanted it or not."

"Why? Is there something wrong?" Hinata asked with concern.

Temari smirked. "Of course not. After having a stressful day yesterday, I couldn't sleep too well, so I decided to just get up out of bed and go bathe in the nice, hot water." Her brow rose. "Care to join me?"

Hinata smiled again, her eyes practically sparkling with joy. "Yes, that sounds great! I'll just get my clothes…"

Temari watched from the doorway as Hinata energetically ran about her bedroom, gathering her clothes, towel, and other bathing supplies. It was weird seeing Hinata so…animated and elated, and all before the sun had fully risen above the horizon.

"I'm ready," Hinata smiled widely again, walking with Temari down the hallway with an obvious bounce in her step.

Temari glanced at her out of the corner of her eye in curiosity. "What are you so happy about?"

Hinata tilted her head in confusion. "I don't think I'm anymore happier than usual…"

Temari rolled her eyes before chuckling. "If I didn't know you any better, I'd wonder if you just had sex or something."

Hinata blushed heavily. "Temari!"

The older deity laughed more heartily. "Oh, come on! You know I'm kidding. Although, seriously, what's got you in such a good mood?"

Hinata lowered her smiling gaze, seeing in her mind's eye the face of her demon friend. In answer to Temari, though, all she did was shrug.

The blonde's brows furrowed before her expression turned quickly into that of a knowing smirk. "It wouldn't have anything to do with _Neji_, now would it?"

Hinata's eyes snapped over to her friend's in shock before she waved her hands in front of her, nearly in panic. "No, no, no, of course not…" She suddenly remembered the moment when his lips were beginning to touch hers—She blushed. "Although…No, no, no, not Neji!" She shook her head vigorously, praying for the blush to recede already. "I just had a good rest and a good dream last night, that's all!"

The two women had finally reached the doors to the bathing area, but Temari stopped and blocked the entrance, facing Hinata with her hands on her hips and expression showing her tightened lips and raised eyebrow. "You don't honestly expect me, your best friend, to believe that pathetic lie, do you? I've known you too long, and I've told you too many times, Hinata, that lying is not exactly one of your strengths. So…come out with it."

Hinata bit her lip before forming a pout, her eyes wide and shiny as she gazed at her best friend. "But Temari…" She even began to poke her forefingers together. "Could we at least get in the water before I have to say anything…? Please?"

Temari spent a whole two seconds looking at that face before she sighed and glanced around at the hallways, which was when she realized that anyone could walk by and invade their private conversation. With another heavy sigh, she nodded. "Alright, alright, let's go…"

The hot water with its steaming tendrils had never felt so good. As both women lowered themselves into the water, a collective moan of satisfaction was all that could be heard. They each ran the water over their arms, backs, and necks, feeling relaxed and at peace already.

"Mmm, this is exactly what I needed." Temari murmured, reclining back into the water.

"Mhm," Hinata agreed with a small smile, keeping her eyes closed so as to enjoy the hot bath better.

There was only a short moment of silence before Temari looked over at Hinata expectantly. "So…Neji is why you're in such a good mood, right?"

There was no smile present on Hinata's lips anymore, and her once happy mood had turned into something more grave. "No…Although, after what he did, I should be happy…"

"After what he did?" Temari repeated, obviously confused. "What did he do?"

Hinata blushed, lowering herself even more into the water. "He tried to kiss me, and almost would have if Lady Tsunade didn't appear."

Temari's eyes widened. "Seriously? This happened last night after the meeting? He almost kissed you?"

In answer to all of her friend's questions, Hinata nodded meekly.

"Was that the first time he tried to kiss you?"

Slowly, Hinata nodded again.

Temari's eyes widened even more in surprise. "I can't believe it! Are you serious? He's never tried to kiss you before? Here I was thinking that you two have kissed at least a couple times, but not even once?"

Hinata shook her head, keeping her gaze on the water.

Temari analyzed her friend, trying to gauge what her reaction might have been. "Hinata…Did you want Neji to kiss you?"

The dark-haired girl couldn't think of how to answer that. For awhile, all she could manage to do was open and close her mouth in debate. Finally, she shook her head while offering an uncertain smile to her older friend. "I don't know…I don't think so, but…I don't think I would've minded…" She paused thoughtfully. "But…I don't think of Neji like that. He's always been such a good friend to me, and I love him."

Temari began to change from the excited friend to the solemnly wise one, hoping to be able to give her dear friend some advice. "You love him…I see that. Are you _in love _with him?"

Hinata looked confused.

"There's a difference you know." Temari continued. "You can love someone without being in love with them. Being in love is…well, simply stated, the romantic part of it. If you're in love with Neji, then you would want him to kiss you…among other things."

"And if I don't?"

"Then you're probably not in love with him." Temari felt inwardly sorry for Neji. Maybe it was hopeful wishing, but Temari had always assumed that Hinata would end up with Neji. To hear that Hinata didn't return those feelings…Poor Neji. "Hinata, you probably know by now what Neji's feelings for you are…right?"

Hinata nodded, even though she was still trying to tell herself that there was no way Neji could think of her like that. "What do I do?"

"What do you want to do?" Temari reciprocated. "I mean, if you don't want Neji, then you could always hook up with Gaara. At least then I could call you my sister." Temari was smiling in humor, seeing Hinata nearly giggle. When the blonde saw that Hinata was starting to return to her depressed mood, she spoke again. "Look, Hina, it's not your fault. Despite what you may believe, none of us have any choice as to who we fall in love with. It just happens. Do you honestly think based on my personality that of all the guys I could choose from, I would choose a lazy-ass like Shikamaru, or that he would choose someone like me?"

Hinata looked at her friend in shock.

Temari smiled. "Falling in love is one of those things that just kind of knocks you over when you're not paying attention, and by the time you get back up, everything's different. Suddenly, it's like your entire life revolves around this other person. Suddenly, you care more about their happiness than your own, and when they're not around you, you feel…empty, I guess."

"Incomplete." Hinata added, understanding what her friend was telling her. She also felt sympathetic towards Temari, as well as privileged that she had trusted their friendship enough to divulge such a secret. After all, anytime someone brought up the possible romance between Temari and Shikamaru, both furiously denied it. To see Temari admit to it was kind of an eye-opening experience. Did being in love do that to a person?

"So…yeah," Temari laughed uncomfortably. "Back to my previous question, what is it that you want to do?"

"With Neji?"

Temari nodded.

Hinata bit her lip in contemplation before answering with hesitation. "I don't think I'm in love with him, but I want him to be happy. Maybe…if being with him like he wants me to be will make him happy, then…I could do that."

"If you're saying that you would put yourself into that kind of a relationship even though you don't return his feelings, then…No."

"No?"

Temari glared. "No. Absolutely not. There's no way in hell that I'm going to allow you to do that. Let me put it this way…if you love Neji as much I think you do, would you really do that to him and to yourself? Don't be an idiot."

"Wait," Hinata felt so confused. "What do you mean? I don't understand. If it'll make Neji happy…"

Temari nearly scoffed. "Neji would probably be happy if he knew that you were in love with him, not putting aside your own happiness to be with some guy that you only care about as a friend. Do you see how screwed up that is?"

"I…" At a loss for words, Hinata averted her gaze, wringing her fingers in her lap.

Temari was so tempted to just throw her hands up into the air in aggravation. She closed her eyes instead, and counted to ten before exhaling deeply. "You know…You do seem like you're still not sure about what you feel. Maybe the best thing you can do is take some time to yourself and figure that out. I'm sure Neji will wait." _He's waited for a long time, so I'm sure he can wait a little longer._

Hinata nodded in agreement.

* * *

Neji was in turmoil.

So much so that he had hardly slept well at all the previous night. When he awoke early that morning, the first thing on his mind was the very same last thing he thought about before going to sleep.

The almost kiss.

What had he been thinking? He lost control of his senses for one moment; he just wanted to touch her lips—just once…and now…it could be all over.

He had always thought that the relationship between him and Hinata was a strong and durable one, able to withstand all forces without crumbling.

His assumption was apparently wrong, because all it would take to ruin their stable relationship was one slip-up from him. One measly second of losing his senses and rationale was all it took to ruin what they had been building up for years.

He swore to himself to not tell her his feelings until the right moment, until she was ready to receive it. But because he was too weak to stop his urges, Hinata had probably realized what his true feelings were.

Neji remembered seeing the absolute shock on her face when he was leaning toward her, obviously aiming for a collision of their lips. She looked completely dumbfounded as if he had just told her that he was in love with her.

Of course, what would be the use of confessing that to her now? If she ever had doubts about his feelings before, they were pretty much confirmed at the moment when he felt the barest touch of her mouth against his. There was no way that she wouldn't know now just how enamored he was. No possible way.

_I've officially just screwed myself over._

What was he going to do? What _could _he do? He had to do something, say something, anything just to calm the situation and gauge what her reaction might be. A part of him wanted to crawl under a rock and disappear for awhile, but that part was quickly crushed at the knowledge that he wasn't a coward, that he would face any situation he was presented with.

On that note, he figured that he had two options. One, he could carry on and act like it had never happened, and slowly lull Hinata back into their previous state of comfort and normalcy. Or…he could confront her and confess and find a way to deal with her reaction and response, whatever it would be.

In deciding what he would do, he had to remind himself what his goals were, what he wanted in the end of it all.

With a deep sigh, Neji sat on the edge of his bed, elbows on his knees, and hands cradling his head.

It was now or never.

* * *

It had been quiet between the two friends up until they were beginning to exit the bathing rooms. At that point, Temari stopped Hinata with a hand on her arm. "Hey,"

Hinata turned to face her.

Temari tried to smile comfortingly. "I know this is hard for you, and I'm sorry that I probably didn't help much, but…" She glanced away briefly as if in debate about something. Her brows furrowed before looking back at Hinata. "I've seen relationships based on one-sided love, and they never work out in the end. If you choose to enter into a relationship with Neji, then over time, he will come to resent you because you could never return his feelings. And perhaps over time, you might come to resent him too. Or actually, knowing you, you'd probably end up hating yourself for not being able to give Neji the one thing he's ever asked of you."

Hinata listened, beginning to understand what Temari had been saying earlier.

Temari unnoticeably gulped before continuing. "You see, my parents' relationship was like that. It was an arranged marriage, of course, since my father was the village leader, but my mother didn't mind, because she ended up falling in love with him. How she could possibly love that bastard, I have no idea."

She paused as if dwelling on past memories. "Anyway, my father never thought of my mother like that; in fact, he couldn't care less about her, and because of that, my mother started to resent him. And because she resented him, he started to resent her until they both pretty much hated each other. When she got raped by that demon, it gave my father an excuse to get rid of her…and she died with a lot of bitter feelings, since she didn't exactly have a great life."

"Temari…" Hinata could easily see how terrible it must have been for her friend to see all of that when she was young, to see the loveless relationship of her parents everyday. "I'm so sorry."

The older deity merely shook her head. "All I'm saying is that I don't want that to happen to you. As much as Neji pisses me off, I don't want that to happen to him either. Anyone here can tell you that you and Neji have a deep and strong friendship, so if we were to see that friendship fall apart…" she gave a quick, humorless laugh. "What hope would the rest of us have?"

Hinata found herself biting on her lip in habit once again as she mulled over everything her older friend had said. Finally, with a smile, Hinata spoke. "It's like you said earlier, I'm not sure of my feelings yet. I've never thought about it, so I don't know if the love I feel for Neji is just friendship or something more." She licked her lips in thought before continuing. "So…I'm going to think about it, and I promise that I won't jump into anything without knowing exactly what my feelings are."

Temari smiled in satisfaction before slinging an arm over her smaller friend's shoulders. "Now, that's the Hinata I know and love." She chuckled. "It's so nice to have someone around who isn't so damn hard-headed."

Hinata giggled, both of their hearts feeling lighter as they officially exited the baths.

"Temari,"

Said woman jumped in surprise before spinning around to see her little brother leaning against the wall behind them. "Damn it, Gaara! I thought we talked about this already. Stop sneaking up on me, and alert me before you just…show up!"

Though confusion tainted his tone, his expression (of course) gave nothing away. "I did alert you. I said your name."

Temari sighed, inwardly telling herself that it would be of no use to argue about it anymore. "Okay…So…I'm a little surprised to see you up so early."

"It's not early. We are to be in the dining hall in less than twenty minutes. You were in there for awhile."

"Wow, I guess so." She murmured before exchanging a quizzical glance with Hinata. "Time sure went by fast, huh?"

"It did." Hinata agreed. "I wasn't aware that we were in there for so long."

Temari laughed. "Oh well. It was worth it. Anyway, Gaara, we have to drop our clothes off in our rooms before we head over to breakfast."

Gaara said nothing in reply and only began to lead the way.

They didn't get very far before Temari espied Shikamaru coming around the corner, completely by himself with his hands in his pockets and back slightly hunched. She smiled and turned back to her brother and friend. "I'll just see you guys there, okay?"

Before Gaara or Hinata could say anything in reply, Temari had sped off toward the notoriously lazy young man, calling out his name in the process.

Hinata watched with a content smile on her face as she saw how the two acted around each other, and the way that the emotion in their eyes changed drastically, as if they had just been given a great treasure. _Is that what being in love looks like?_

"Are you coming?" Gaara interrupted her short reverie.

Hinata turned to him and smiled with a nod before walking beside him towards her bedroom.

As they walked side-by-side, nearly shoulder-to-shoulder, Gaara couldn't help but take notice of something very important.

He didn't feel that push anymore, nor the burning or draining sensations that he usually felt when around Hinata. To be near her felt normal. There was no more of that fierce protective vibe that her necklace usually sent out to act as a barrier around her. There was no more threatening energy, silently warning him to stay away. Nothing.

During the duration of their walk, he couldn't help but recurrently glance at her in wonder and bewilderment.

What had changed?

As the redhead incessantly pondered about it, he didn't say anything until Hinata entered her bedroom to put away her dirty clothes.

He followed her in, closing the door behind him with his hands crossed over his chest and aquamarine eyes intensely focused on her form. Or more specifically, he focused on her neck, watching for the necklace at every twist and turn of her body. When he didn't see it, he knew that something wasn't right.

After putting away her clothes, Hinata stood upright and stared at Gaara with a smile. "Okay, I'm ready to—"

"You're not wearing it."

Hinata stopped, eyes narrowing in confusion. "What?"

"That pendant. You're not wearing it."

Without thought, her hand flew up to her chest to clench onto what wasn't there. "No…Um, no, I'm not wearing it. I, uh…I don't have it anymore."

It was Gaara's turn for his eyes to narrow in confusion. "Why?" It was when she smiled in utter happiness that he knew the reason. He knew that the only way she would not wear it was if it's rightful owner had come to retrieve it. If that was the case, then… "He came back."

Her smile grew in inward excitement before she nodded happily. "Last night. He's staying this time…for awhile, he said." She laughed under her breath. "He came back for me."

"So now what?" He questioned quickly, seemingly very cautious about this demon's return. After all, he felt a protective need to watch over Hinata, and she was making it hard to do that when she was consorting with a demon.

Smile and laughter gone, Hinata tilted her head questionably. "What do you mean?"

Gaara clarified. "Now that he's back, what will you do?"

She was not sure how to answer that. "Um, I…" She paused, considering it. Then, she smiled and shrugged. "I guess…I plan to spend time with him…get to know him again."

"And you do this at night, when everyone's asleep."

"Yes…Why do you ask?"

Gaara's eyes narrowed skeptically. "It seems risky. You're once again going to lead a double life, and at some point, you will get caught. When that happens, what will you do?"

Hinata looked away from him, choosing to stare blankly at her bed rather than her perceptive friend. "I'd rather not think about it."

"You will have to consider it sometime, preferably sooner rather than later." Gaara stated, trying to make her understand the gravity of the situation. "I doubt that the other temple residents will be as understanding about your demon friend like I was. If the village were to find out, you would be labeled a traitor…and be punished for it."

Hinata felt agitation well up inside her. "So what are you saying I should do, Gaara? Tell him to leave me alone?"

"Yes," He answered sternly. "Cut off all communication between you, and sever whatever tie it is that you have with him."

Hinata was shaking her head before she answered. "I can't do that. I've waited ten years for him to come back. I've waited ten years to see him again, and be near him. I can't just…"

"Sooner or later, you will have to, Hinata. For your own safety."

Despite that Hinata understood what Gaara was telling her, it didn't detract from her feeling irritation that she had to be told what to do in concerns with a relationship that only involved her and Itachi. Instead of speaking, she stayed silent and seemed to brood to herself, inwardly wishing that she could just think about the problem another time. The good mood she was in was rapidly disappearing as the hours ticked by—first because of the Neji situation, and now because of Gaara's warning. So much for having a good day.

Gaara gazed at her for awhile, sensing her adverse reaction to his warning. As much as he disliked making her angry or sad, he knew that it had to be said, because while she was not worried about it, he was…very much so.

A distant sound reached his ears, making his head turn slightly in the direction of the sound before he spoke to Hinata again. "I'll see you in the dining room." With that, he turned and left her room quietly and quickly.

After he left, Hinata stood in contemplative silence for what felt like a long time. Finally, she forced herself to think about something more pleasant, and in doing so, her hand fell to her chest again, noticing the absence of the pendant. Feeling empty without it, she glanced around her room until she spotted another necklace that had created a home atop her bedpost.

Knowing it to be the one that Neji had given to her for her birthday ten years ago, she approached closer and caged it in her hand, letting the beautiful chain rest on her palm. With a slow smile, she unlocked the clasp and placed it around her neck, inhaling sharply when the cold metal fell against her skin.

Her fingers ran over it, feeling its texture and noticing that she didn't like the feel of it against her skin. It didn't feel right. It wasn't right having something else besides the blood diamond against her chest—it felt alien to have it there.

Unbeknownst to her, Neji stood at the doorway to her bedroom, watching silently as her fingers ran over the chain of the necklace that he had given to her many years ago. To see her wearing it after all these years made his heart skip a beat in excitement and his lips to curl into a pleased smile.

He gulped and licked his lips, and ended up still smiling as he looked upon the young woman who had captured his heart and woven her way into his very soul. "So, I see you've gotten over your fears of breaking it."

With a startled gasp, she turned to face him in surprise. "Neji…Um, I," Her fingers moved around the chain, searching for the clasp.

Reaching her in a matter of a couple strides, his hand fell over hers. "Don't. Keep it on…" His eyes found hers, and he tried to show her through his gaze how pleased he was to see her wearing it. "It looks beautiful on you."

"Thank you…" She whispered, feeling uncertain about his presence and what he would do.

The hand that rested over hers began to grip her hand gently before pulling it away from her chest. Pulling her hand closer to him, he watched as his fingers began caressing the lines of her palm. "I wanted to talk to you…about what happened last night."

Even though he wasn't looking at her, she was staring at him with a tinge of fear in her eyes. "Okay…"

He stopped playing with her hand and instead held it against his chest, wanting to feel her touch. Only then did he gaze at her again, showing a softening in his eyes in a way that she had only seen on rare occasions. For that moment, he had let his guard down. "You know that I love you, right?"

"Of course, Neji. I love you, too." She quietly replied.

"No…I mean…" he sighed, licking his lips again before beginning. "I know that you love me the way that…you think I love you, and I do, but…it's not that simple. It hasn't been for awhile."

Even more fear and uncertainty began to fill Hinata's heart as she dreaded what was going to happen, what he was going to say. "W-What do you mean?"

"Hinata…" He inched closer to her in earnest. "I don't want to be just a friend to you, or just a guardian, or hell, even a brother figure. I don't want that with you. I want something more from you, and I'm tired of waiting for the opportune moment to tell you this. I don't know if you're ready or not, or…I don't know. I just don't want to keep waiting to tell you, and then because I do that, you end up thinking that our relationship could only ever be friendship. I've always wanted our relationship to be open enough so that whether we wanted to be friends or something more, we could do it. Not easily, I know, but…"

At his pause, Hinata had to take a deep breath and try to calm all the thoughts that were running rampant through her mind. What was Neji saying? Was he saying the very thing that she dreaded hearing from him all these years? "So…What is it that you want to tell me?" She hated herself for asking that, inwardly wishing that neither of them would have to have this conversation. She didn't think she could deal with the repercussions.

He didn't answer for what seemed like forever; all he did was stare into her eyes with an intense determination. "I want…something more than friendship with you. What I want with you is what Lee has with Sakura, and Naruto with Ino, and Kankuro with Tenten. I want _that _type of relationship—not just friendship. I want to be able to call you mine…and only mine…if you'll let me."

She had no idea why, but for some strange reason, she wanted to cry…in sorrow, not happiness. "Neji…" her voice cracked when she murmured his name.

He moved his hands to cup her face, drawing his own face within an inch of hers, not stopping until their foreheads touched. "I could make you happy, Hinata. Every day, I could make you happy, if you'll have me. I would never deny you anything, and I would never stop loving you. All I'm asking is that you let me have you, too."

Her lip was quivering, but she refused to release any tears, even though her heart was aching painfully. She had to say something, but she couldn't think of one thing to say to him. She could agree with him and offer him every part of herself, because she knew that it would make him happy, and it would make her happy as well to know that there was someone who loved her so much. She wanted that for Neji, and she wanted that for herself, but she couldn't force the words on her mouth. She couldn't bring herself to do that, and at first, she didn't know why.

That is, until she remembered every word that Temari had said to her that morning.

"_**Would you really do that to him and to yourself?"**_

"_**Neji would probably be happy if he knew that you were in love with him, not putting aside your own happiness to be with some guy that you only care about as a friend."**_

"_**If you choose to enter into a relationship with Neji, then over time, he will come to resent you because you could never return his feelings."**_

"_**You do seem like you're still not sure about what you feel." **_

"_**Maybe the best thing you can do is take some time to yourself and figure that out." **_

"_**Neji will wait." **_

_Will he? Will he wait for me? _Hinata couldn't help but wonder. She knew that she loved him, but she wasn't certain if she was _in love _with him. So, what kind of an answer could she possibly give him when she herself had no idea? She supposed that she would just have to give him an honest answer, the only one she had.

Seeing that he was waiting for her to say something, she inhaled deeply, preparing herself mentally and emotionally for the next moment. "Neji," She met his eyes, feeling inwardly determined, while showing her obvious love for him in her eyes. "I do love you, and I always have. I…I guess that over the years, I got so used to the relationship we had, and I was so used to being comfortable and content with the way things were or are. All I've ever known with you is that you are one of my best friends and beloved guardian. I've always and only ever known you as this."

His eyes narrowed, obviously sensing her rejection.

She slightly panicked at seeing that he was beginning to close himself up behind his emotional walls of defense. She spoke quickly and assuredly, cupping his face in her hands and using her thumbs to caress his cheeks. "It's not that I can't ever return your feelings, it's just…It's just that I don't know how to be anything more than a friend to you. I know that I love you, but I've never thought about being _in love _with you, so I don't know what my feelings for you are." She stopped, thinking over what she just said, and scolding herself for making it sound so confusing.

"You…" He cleared his throat, noticing how emotionally hoarse it had become. "You've never thought about us being anything more…than we are?"

She slowly shook her head. "No…"

He looked down, beginning to inch away from her.

She stopped his movements by tightening her hand's grip on his face. "I don't know what my feelings are for you. I don't know because I've never considered it. If…If you give me time to consider it and try to figure out my feelings, then I can give you a proper answer."

A small ounce of hope swelled inside of him. "Give you time?"

Hesitantly, she nodded, watching cautiously for his reaction.

He sighed before closing his eyes, not one emotion being betrayed on his face. "I've waited for this moment for years…I've waited for _you _for years…"

It was Hinata's turn to lower her gaze, except in shame and guilt.

"I suppose that I can wait a little longer."

Her eyes snapped up to meet his in shock, taking notice of his soft smile. In turn, she smiled. "Thank you,"

Neji appeared serious all of a sudden. "Just don't make me wait too long."

She was still smiling. "I'll try not to."

He chuckled before standing more upright in order to deliver a longing kiss to her forehead. Both their eyes closed at the contact, one feeling sad from the touch and the other relishing it. Neji pulled away, grasping one of her hands in his. "Shall we go eat?"

Seeing the humor in his smirk, she nodded happily before allowing him to lead her towards the dining room.

Despite that the situation hadn't truly been resolved, Hinata still felt relieved that it had at least been diverted for another time. Hopefully, when that time came, she would have the right answer for Neji, one that she would be satisfied with, and one that would hopefully set his heart at ease.

Such wishful thinking.

* * *

The day had only begun, and all Itachi had managed to do was find himself something to eat and then bathe at a nearby waterfall. The rest of the time was spent in his cave that had become a second home to him. A thin mattress was rolled out on the floor of the cave with his cloak acting as a type of sheet separating him from the cloth of the mattress.

In the very center of the cave was a fire pit, and Itachi's various other belongings were sparsely lining the rock walls. It had certainly become a type of home for him. A very dark and quiet one.

As he laid on his bed, one leg stretched out and the other pulled up with his arms crossed behind his head, he stared blankly at the black ceiling of the cave, which was only black because it was hidden in shadows. His newly regained pendant was resting on his chest in the same position it had been in for the long years before he met Hinata. It should have felt comforting to feel it against his skin again, but for some reason, it wasn't. It felt unfamiliar, like it didn't belong around his neck. Like it belonged around another's. Around Hinata's.

It had been ten years since he had his thoughts to himself without always being able to sense another's emotions flitting through his mind every once in awhile. It should've satisfied him to feel that, but it didn't. It felt too quiet, too silent, too…empty.

He disliked that his day had so far consisted of him constantly feeling as if he had forgotten something or that something was missing.

Something _was _missing.

Hinata's emotions and the connection that he had with her through his necklace. All of that was missing, and he didn't like it. It had suddenly become foreign to have her so absent from his mind. He thought about her, of course, but it wasn't the same, and that bothered him.

He hadn't become attached to constantly knowing how she felt, had he?

And he couldn't deny how restless he felt at not knowing if she was safe or not, or whether or not she was in trouble. Even though she was supposed to be safe within the village walls, it didn't mean that she was safe or out of harm's way. And he sure as hell couldn't rely on her protectors anymore, since they had proved useless at the one time she really needed them. Just thinking about it made him angry and irritated.

How was it that he had become more than calm lately? He was always the collected one, the emotionless one. How could such an insignificant deity change all that? Even after ten years of distance, she was still able to alter his mood in seconds. Possibly even more so now than ever before.

After all, she was a fully mature female now…and that tended to change a lot of things.

For once, Itachi didn't know what to make of it.

He supposed that he would just have to spend more time with her in order to sort out this new "problem".

And he knew that his pendant would have to return to her possession once again.

It just wasn't right when it wasn't in her possession.

Not having that connection wasn't right.

He hated knowing that.

* * *

Tsunade's day began with seeing Kakashi and Asuma off on their mission, along with many other army members leaving on scouting missions. She couldn't imagine what it must be like for Lord Sarutobi to send his own son into dangerous territory. She couldn't imagine how he could handle the knowledge that there was a chance that his son wouldn't come back alive. How would any parent be able to handle that, let alone be the one to send them off?

The matriarch, however, assured herself that Asuma was an excellent warrior, and he had great experience at hunting demons since he used to be a demon-hunter in the years past. Also, Asuma was partnered with Kakashi, whose demon-hunting skills were infamous. The two of them could be quite a threat against the demon race. Therefore, she had no reason to worry…right?

After their departure, Tsunade shared breakfast with the others before truly beginning her day, and it was doomed to be busy and frustrating.

As soon as breakfast had ended, training began. There was no time for a learning session with Kurenai anymore, nor barely enough time for the deities to have their music sessions. They would train until lunch and then head over to the pavilion to work until dinner.

Yes, it would be quite a full and exhausting day.

Since Jiraiya was busy with the village leader, it was solely Tsunade's job to ensure that everything was progressing as it should. Her first stop was the security force.

She stayed for a short time, watching Gai lecture about the basics of fighting a demon. Once the lecture was completed, he began on instructing them about strategies.

At that time, the matriarch moved onto the next group, which was the guardians. Anko seemed to be following in Gai's footsteps by lecturing the boys in a military style about what it was like to fight a demon and what to avoid. The guardians listened with rapt attention, of course, mentally taking note of every detail.

Even though the young men had never trained under Anko, one wouldn't be able to tell by the way they were showing their quiet respect.

Satisfied, Tsunade walked on and didn't stop until she approached the deities all sitting on the grass with Kurenai standing at the forefront. Apparently, the red-eyed woman was going over the importance of mastering their powers and perfecting their gifts. That was when the matriarch decided to intrude.

"Lady Tsunade," Kurenai nodded in respect.

The large-busted woman smirked. "Sorry to interrupt, Kurenai." After the dark-haired woman nodded, Tsunade turned to the deities with stern leadership shining in her wake. Almost as if in response, each one of the young ladies stood, their eyes showing nothing but fierce determination and readiness for their new training. Tsunade couldn't help herself from smiling in approval. "Are you girls ready to begin?"

With a collective nod, they each spoke out their agreement.

With an approving smile still on her face, Tsunade began speaking again. "After the meeting last night, I spent many hours researching the deities before you and their participation in the wars. Or, more specifically, how they fought in those wars. Through that research, I was able to determine how best to teach you girls how to battle demons.

"What Kurenai was telling you just now is just what you need to know, but there's more to it. It is vitally important that you master your abilities, but now you need to learn how to transform your abilities into attacks. That is how you will be fighting. You were given these gifts for a reason, and now you must learn how to use them to your benefit during this upcoming war. You will be training for hours on end, and you will not stop until you are ready for this war, because those demons will be searching for every possible weakness you might have.

"We will begin working on honing your powers into weapons before delving into defensive and offensive strategies. This will not be easy."

"Wait, Lady Tsunade," Ino interrupted. "I can understand how turning powers into weapons will be doable for those three," she motioned toward Tenten, Temari and Sakura. "But what about me and Hinata? Our abilities aren't exactly made to be turned into attacks. So, how's that going to work?"

_Ino certainly doesn't miss a beat. _Tsunade thought to herself wryly before answering. "Don't worry, Ino, I'll get to that. You and Hinata are definitely unique cases, but I'm going to need to go over the basics first, understand?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Now anyways, Kurenai is going to help you all through this, but I'll be your main instructor today in order to ensure that everything goes smoothly." She paused, scanning her eyes over the girls quickly. "Ino and Hinata, stay here. The rest of you girls come with me and Kurenai." With that, Tsunade led the group of four towards a further area.

When the deities arrived at a familiar part of the courtyard, they were shocked to find many different logs positioned in the ground, each one acting as some type of post. Nearly synchronized, all three deities turned to their matriarch in puzzlement.

Instead of answering their silent questions, Tsunade turned to Kurenai. "I'll need you to follow me and pay attention to what I tell each of the girls. That way, you'll know how to train them further in case I'm busy."

"Understood, Lady Tsunade."

The said woman nodded before turning her attention back to the three young women. "Tenten, let's begin with you. Come this way." She spoke sternly, hearing the deity follow her from behind. They approached a set of three posts set a few feet from the other.

Tenten was still confused. "Lady Tsunade?"

"This is where you will be training. What you need to focus on is imagining those fighting posts as your future demon opponents. Now, you already know how to make weapons, so what you need to learn how to do is how to use them to your advantage. Anyone can throw a dagger or swing a sword, but all of that changes when it comes to demons."

"So, what am I supposed to do exactly?" Tenten murmured.

"First, you need to start creating weapons that will cause serious damage to a demon. Secondly, you need to come up with a fighting style so that you and your weapons act as one unit. Lastly, you're going to practice your techniques until nothing remains of those logs. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Go ahead and get prepared. I'll send Kurenai to help in a moment."

"Yes, ma'am."

Afterward, Tsunade led Temari to another area a good distance away from Tenten. Once there, Tsunade motioned to the training posts before explaining to the oldest deity about how they were to act as her demon opponents. "You have already formed your ability into a weapon—I've seen you blow a few people away. However, that's not going to do anything to a demon. What I want you to focus on doing is forming your wind into…I suppose we'll just call it 'blades'. Instead of trying to knock the demons over, your weapons will need to slice through them."

Temari rose a brow in skepticism. "And how am I possibly going to pull that off?"

"Simply speaking," Tsunade smirked. "Just imagine the blade of a sword in your mind, and try to turn your wind into that…and then send it to your opponent-no pretty bows attached."

Temari chuckled. "Despite how simple it sounds, I have a feeling it's going to be very complicated."

"Probably." The matriarch shrugged. "But, you're the only one who could pull it off. We'll go over it more in detail later. As for now, try thinking about how you could go about turning your wind into a bunch of blades."

"Right…No problem."

Sakura was next, and due to her ability, she had to be taken to the farthest part of the temple property, which looked undeveloped since it was mostly dirt.

"Okay, Sakura, yours should be pretty easy compared to the others." Tsunade started.

Sakura smirked, wrapping her hand around one bicep. "Want me to smash the ground up?"

"Not in the way you're thinking, although destroying this area is inevitable for you." The matriarch answered. "What I want you to work on is controlling that strength to the point where it will become second nature as to how much power you put into your punches. Once you have that mastered, then you and the other girls are going to learn combat skills, which you will then be able to combine with that strength of yours."

"Oh, I get it."

"Yes, and at that point, you'll be an opponent that hopefully the demons won't want to mess with."

Sakura smiled, feeling joy at that statement.

"So, why don't you get to work on that, and I'll go see to the other two girls. Try punching the ground first to form a basic crater. After that, use control to make another crater that will be smaller, and so on."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Finally, once Tsunade finished with the three deities, she moved onto the other two, who had remained in the same place and seemed to be fidgeting almost nervously.

"Alright, you two," Tsunade began, arms crossed under her breasts. "You two are definitely going to be doing something very different than the others. Ino, despite what you may believe, your ability is an attack. Perhaps not a physical one, but definitely a mental one."

The blonde seemed to pout her lips in thought. "I suppose…"

"Therefore, that's what you're going to be working on for the most part. You, like the others, will eventually learn how to physically fight, but as for now, I want you to have complete mastery over your gift."

"Right,"

"So, for today, I want you to work on trying to get through Kurenai's mental barrier. All of us have one ever since you came around, and we've all worked on making it stronger just as you have gotten stronger. The demons are experts at blocking off their minds to others. If you can penetrate those barriers, then you will have an extreme advantage over them, understand?"

"Yes, I understand." Ino nodded seriously.

"Good. Find a quiet place for yourself and then concentrate on penetrating Kurenai's mental barrier. That is, if Kurenai doesn't mind…" At that, she turned to face the red-eyed woman.

Kurenai smiled. "Of course not. It's not a problem."

"Then we're all set for today. Ino, go find a secluded area for yourself so you can focus."

"Yes, ma'am." Ino muttered and jogged off into the thin forestry that existed within the temple's backyard.

When the blonde had disappeared from her sight, Tsunade faced the remaining deity, who looked between confusion and readiness. Knowing that Hinata was going to have to go through something very different than the others, Tsunade tried to offer a comforting smile. "Alright, Hinata, it's down to you."

Hinata had to repress the urge to nibble on her lip, unknowing of what to say.

"Because your ability is healing, which means that it's purely supportive, there's not a way for you to turn that power into any type of attack. The healing deities have never been meant to damage, have never been meant for fighting of any kind. I suppose that your generation will be the first to disobey that tradition. Are you okay with that?"

"Yes, Lady Tsunade." Hinata answered without hesitation. "I want to be able to fight alongside everyone."

Tsunade nodded without a smile. "That's very good of you, Hinata, but I feel that you need to understand that it might not work out like that. You need to understand that because you are our only healer, everyone will be protecting you first and foremost. When it comes to war, the healer is always first priority, which could easily mean that you will not be fighting at all."

Not knowing how to respond to that, Hinata simply looked away, brows furrowed in disappointment. It wasn't that she _wanted _to fight; it was just that she didn't want to be left behind or treated like a weak little princess as Temari put it. She at least wanted to feel like she was on equal ground with everyone else, pulling her own weight just like they would be.

"However," Tsunade interrupted her inner thoughts. "It's just as Gaara said. Wars are unpredictable, and because of that, none of us can guarantee that you will always have someone around to protect you. It is for that reason, Hinata, that we're going to teach you girls how to fight. As for you specifically, the physical part of fighting is all we can teach you."

Hinata's features became stern. "I understand, Lady Tsunade. I'll learn whatever you will teach me."

The older woman smirked. "That's what I like to hear." She clapped her hands together. "So, I'm going to leave Kurenai here to start teaching you the basic fighting moves. Pay attention very closely, because Kurenai knows what she's talking about. She's fought against plenty of demons and survived, and she'll help you learn how to do that same thing."

Kurenai glanced at the matriarch. "You would like me to stay with Hinata during today's training session?"

"Yes, but just for today. I'll manage the other girls, so just train Hinata and keep in mind about Ino's progress."

"Understood."

Tsunade nodded before turning to Hinata with a reassuring smile. "Good luck, Hinata."

* * *

It had been a grueling and exhausting day. After everyone completed their training, they seemed all ready for a nap, but instead ate a quick lunch before heading over to the pavilion until dinner time. It was like working nonstop all day long, so by the time dinner came around, it was a miracle that no one passed out on the table.

Actually, Shikamaru, Naruto, and Lee were the only exceptions. They had to be constantly jostled awake by those around them, since no one wanted to listen to their loud snoring, and Sakura and Ino certainly didn't want their beloveds to have food caked onto their faces…even though they themselves thought that their dinner plates looked like comfortable pillows.

It was quite the temptation.

When dinner had finally ended, not a word was spoken amongst the group as each individual traveled sluggishly toward their bedrooms. With Gaara and a few select security force members as the exception, everyone else entered their dream worlds as soon as their bodies came in contact with their beds.

Which is why when Itachi arrived in Hinata's room much later that night, he found Hinata in a seemingly very deep sleep. So deep in slumber was she, that even when he called out her name to wake her, she didn't even twitch.

As a solution to his predicament, he merely picked her up out of bed and carried her sleeping body toward the meadow, thinking inwardly about how she did say that she preferred being carried when she was asleep so as to avoid the "terrifying" experience.

When he arrived at the darkened clearing, he gently and silently laid her body down onto the thick grass, noticing that she stayed asleep during the whole ordeal. In a crouched position just next to her, Itachi found himself watching her sleep ever so soundly. Every time she would exhale, she would release a tiny sound that certainly wasn't a snore. Hearing it somehow made his lips form into a smirk of amusement. Then, he turned his attention to the strands of hair that were beginning to fall over her face. Almost instinctually, he reached over to push them back, but stalled upon feeling her hair around his fingers. Just like every other time that he found himself holding her hair, he would allow the strands to run over his skin, feeling the smooth silky texture.

His hand froze when he caught himself, inwardly reprimanding himself for doing such a thing...even though he couldn't help it at times.

As he stayed crouched next to her sleeping figure, and just as he had planned that morning, he removed the pendant from around his neck and moved to tie it around hers instead. It was then that he noticed that some other necklace was already occupying her neck. Frowning in irritation, he continued forward and tied the pendant around her neck, liking how it overshadowed the other necklace. As he pulled away, the tips of his fingers brushed against her skin unintentionally, causing for him to pull away quicker and feel wonder at how even though she was mature, her skin had remained soft and unhardened by age.

That thought was quickly demolished, however, when the blood diamond made contact with her skin. Immediately, he felt at peace since he was once again able to almost hear her emotions flitting about in his mind. It was a complete onrush of human emotion, traveling from one end of the spectrum to the other. When the sensations calmed back to neutral, he could sense her utmost contentment, but also exhaustion. He could only assume that she had a tiring day.

That left him wondering if he should've just left her in bed, or perhaps take her back now and let her sleep in her own room rather than outside on the chilly ground. Thinking better of it, he removed his cloak and tossed it over her body, telling himself that he would just wait for her to wake on her own. Although, the thought of her sleeping the entire time that she was in his possession didn't bother him the way he thought it would. In fact, he would feel content just having her there rather than at the temple. It was his right after all.

What Hinata probably didn't know or realize was that from now on...her nights belonged to him…and him only.

* * *

"_Though my soul may set in darkness,_

_It will rise in perfect light,_

_I have loved the stars too fondly_

_To be fearful of the night"_

_-Sarah Williams_

* * *

**The next chapter will continue right where this one left off, so don't worry, you won't miss anything!**

**Thanks for all the reviews! I can't say this enough****—****You guys are the best! I feel so appreciative of my reviewers.**

**Please keep sending me the love! With enough motivation, I'll have this finished by August.**

**Tranquilwriter**


	22. Awareness

**FOR THE RECORD, I had this finished on Tuesday the 6****th****, but my internet got shut off until now, so I couldn't upload. Sorry for the inconvenience!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**AGE REMINDER: Rookie Nine: 18 ****—**** Neji, Tenten, Lee: 19 ****—**** Kankuro: 20 ****—**** Temari: 21**

**A HUGE Thank you to _TheChillOfWinter _for drawing this awesome pic! ALL YOU READERS LISTEN UP! Check out this picture and leave him/her some love for drawing it. The same goes for _NarutoAngel _if you haven't checked out her pics either. (Link is on my profile) THANKS!**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XXI**

**Awareness**

* * *

"_And a nameless longing filled her breast, -A wish, that she hardly dared to own, For something better than she had known."_

_- John Greenleaf Whittier_

* * *

Something was tickling her nose.

She would rub her hand over her nose and mouth, trying to get rid of whatever it was.

Then, it started to tickle her cheeks. Releasing an irritated moan, she turned her face into her pillow, only to wonder why her pillow was slightly cold and spiky.

She was greatly tempted to sit up and discover what the problem was, but decided against it when she felt how sore and still exhausted she was. Training had definitely been gruesome, and she could seriously feel it.

She felt horrible, and now she had to deal with a strange pillow under her head and a hard mattress. The only satisfaction she felt was how warm she was. It seemed that her blanket was the only thing doing its job.

Giving up on resituating, Hinata sighed before inching her eyes open, only to widen her eyes even further when she didn't recognize the walls of her bedroom. In fact, there weren't any walls at all. It was dark, yes, but she could tell that the moon was shining on her, and it happened to be grass that she was laying on. Slowly and slightly painfully, she managed to sit up, feeling something slide down her body. Looking down, she saw a dark cloth crumpled in her lap, one that she didn't recognize, and yet…it did look familiar.

Glancing away, she finally saw that she was not just outside but in the meadow. Strange…How did she get out there? Or was it all a dream?

There was something else that she noticed was different. Looking down, she watched her hand hold the familiar blood diamond pendant. Having it against her skin again had never felt better. But how did it get there?

"I'll leave it in your possession from now on."

Looking toward the origin of his unmistakable voice, she saw his dark form seated against the boulder, glowing red eyes focused on her. "Itachi?"

"You slept awhile."

"How long have I been out here?"

"A few hours." He answered before settling his gaze on the bright moon.

"Oh…" When it had become quiet between them, she analyzed the cloth in her lap, only to realize that it was a cloak. Glancing at Itachi, she noticed his usual cloak was missing. Putting two and two together…she ended up smiling in silent appreciation.

"Here," She stood over him, holding out his cloak for him to grasp. "Thank you,"

He showed no sign of acknowledgement, other than taking his cloak back. Once it was in his grasp, he stood as well before slipping it back over his body. "That necklace…where did it come from?"  
Knowing which one he spoke of, she answered, albeit very hesitantly, as if telling him would make him angry for some reason. "Um, Neji gave it to me…on my eighth birthday."

Ah, her guardian. Of course. "Hm," He murmured, feeling a twinge of irritation. Instead of allowing for another silence, he asked what he had been curious about ever since he sensed her exhausted emotions. That coupled with how tensely she was walking made him wonder even more about her tired demeanor. "Why are you tired?"

"Hm?" Hinata met his penetrating gaze before she understood his question. "Oh, uh…" She smiled. "We're all undergoing a new type of training. We're basically, um, learning how to fight."

"Why?" Although he could understand why the protectors needed to learn that, he felt suspicious as to why Hinata, and he assumed the other deities, would need to learn something like that.

"Well, um, I personally would like to be able to protect myself should I ever get attacked by demons again…and the others need to learn that as well for the same reason."

His eyes narrowed imperceptibly. He agreed with what she said and knew it to be the truth, but he could tell by the way she avoided his gaze that there must be another reason. "What else?" At seeing her confused stare, he elaborated. "You make it sound as though your entire temple is preparing for some type of battle." The wideness of her eyes seemed to answer his question, which made him inwardly wonder if the humans were privy to the demon race's intentions.

Hinata was ready to reply the affirmative, but thought otherwise, remembering that Itachi was a demon, and it would certainly be a betrayal if she mentioned just what her village knew. On second thought, it was Itachi she would be telling, not just some random demon. She could trust Itachi, she always has. She knew instinctually that he would never put her in harm's way, but that didn't mean that he would hesitate to do that for the rest of her friends, or her village for that matter.

Of course she could trust Itachi with her life, but the real question remained as to whether or not she could trust him with the lives of her temple family. In answer to that, she really had no idea. Her instincts told her that a demon like him wouldn't spare a thought to the destruction of her village. But then…he treated _her _so differently. She was a human and a deity, the perfect enemy of the demons, and yet he had shown on multiple occasions just how protective he was of her. She could only reason with herself that just because he acted like that toward her and made her an exception didn't mean that he would offer that treatment to anyone else.

She was at a loss of what to say in answer to his question. Eventually, she ended up answering his question with another question. "You…Um, the demons…" She met his stare levelly, brows slightly furrowed. "Your race is planning to attack us—attack Konoha…right?"

Was that surprise she could see on his face? For a moment, she could've sworn that she saw his eyes widen in shock, but it was there and gone in the blink of an eye. Instead of replying as quickly as she expected him to, he stayed silent for what seemed like a long time.

In fact, he was mulling it over in his mind. How was it possible that Konoha already knew about the upcoming attack? How had they found out? Was it possible that a few survivors did get away from their decimated villages, and warn Konoha about what was happening?

It was definitely possible, as he discussed with Madara before he left for Konoha. That was why demons were being sent out to scout the forest and destroy whatever humans they found. It was all done so that the three allied villages would be kept in the dark until that fateful day when the inevitable war would break out. It had been done with such careful planning…

Itachi always had a feeling that there would be a hitch in their plans at some point. He even expected for Konoha to catch onto their plan eventually, but…not this quickly.

Seeing as how he was a personal advisor and strategist for Madara and had been acting as such for the past ten years, it shouldn't have surprised him that he felt nothing but an angered agitation at finding out just how much Konoha knew. It angered him that his race failed at keeping Konoha in the dark; so much so that he found himself glaring at the dark-haired beauty in front of him.

"Why would you think that?" he asked, his tone remaining flat and unemotional.

Hinata could tell that he was not pleased to hear what she had said. Practically feeling a wave of anger wash off of him, she gulped and nearly fell back into her nervous fidgeting. "It's true, isn't it?"

He narrowed his eyes and his mouth was set in a line of stone. Slowly and with predatory footsteps, he edged closer to her, only stopping when a few inches separated their bodies and his blood-red eyes were staring into her moonlight orbs. Instead of answering her question, he persisted with his own, speaking each word slowly with threats laced within. "Where would you get an idea like that?"

As she gazed somewhat fearfully up into his face, she licked her lips before nibbling in anxiety. She gulped again before whispering. "The mission…"

His eyes flickered away from her mouth to stare into her eyes again, briefly wondering to himself why he was staring at her mouth in the first place. "The one where you got attacked."

His voice was low in tone and quiet, and by the goddess, he was _so close_. She could feel his breath against her face, and it made her heart race in either fear or…something else—she wasn't sure. Either way, their positioning was making her uncomfortable, and yet, she couldn't force herself to back away. All she could do was convince herself that he was so threatening that it made her whole body freeze in response.

Remembering what she had been saying and then what he had added, she nodded hurriedly before elaborating. "Yes…" her voice still a whisper. "Before I got attacked, Neji, my guardian, and Master Kakashi left to do a perimeter check—"

"Kakashi," Itachi interrupted with a strange look to his eyes. "Kakashi Hatake."

Momentarily derailed from her original train of thought, she looked up at his face so near to hers and felt shocked confusion. "Do you know Master Kakashi?"

Sadistic amusement glinted in his eyes while a smirk pulled at his lips, his gaze so focused on hers. "One working eye, correct?"

She nodded.

"I destroyed his other eye."

Her brows furrowed and her eyes widened in slight horror. "That was you?"

Smirk gone, he continued. "He tried to kill me many years ago. He failed."

For a moment, her mind seemed completely blank and in a standstill, but within seconds, so many memories and thoughts began to race through her mind at superhuman speeds. First and foremost, she remembered the one time that Kakashi had removed the cloth covering his eye, and although she didn't see the damage, she remembered the look on young Sasuke's face, since he did see it.

She remembered Kakashi's words.

"_**He is not like any other demon I have faced. He is the only one I couldn't kill." **_

"_**I should've been killed by him." **_

"…_**he took something from me."**_

"_**He took away half my sight."**_

And then she remembered Sasuke…

"…_**when I face against Itachi."**_

Sasuke was planning on fighting Itachi for some reason, but what? And then she remembered how often she had pondered if Sasuke and Itachi might be related in some way. But then, Sasuke would have to be a demon, right?

With confusion written on every inch of her face, she turned to Itachi once again. "Do you know Sasuke as well?"

Itachi's shock was more noticeable and long-lasting that time. His eyes were definitely wide as he stared at her. "What did you say?"

She licked her lips, gazing at him through her bangs. "Sasuke…Do you know him? His last name is Uchiha, and…that's your last name too. A-Are you cousins, or…?"

His shock wore off quickly as he regained control of himself. However, there was still disbelief in his tone. "Sasuke's living in Konoha? At the temple?"

"Yes, he's part of the security force…and I think he wants to fight you."

Itachi chuckled underneath his breath in a very humorless way. "Of course he does."

"Are you related?" Hinata persisted.

Itachi stared at her silently for awhile as if debating what to tell her. "He's my half-brother."

It was Hinata's turn to stare at him in shock and disbelief, and unlike him, she couldn't find anything to say.

So Itachi continued. "We shared the same father. His mother was human."

_Half-demon. _She should've known. She knew about Gaara and Naruto being half-demons, but she never thought that Sasuke was one. Thinking back on the times she had seen him fight, she really should've known. Finally, she shook herself out of her surprise and tried to remember what questions came to mind. "What happened…between you two?"

Itachi's eyes narrowed, and in a matter of seconds, his guard was up. "Continue with what you were saying about Kakashi and your guardian."

Her brows furrowed. "But—"

"Your mission and why you think the demons will attack." He interrupted, forcefully turning her away from the previous topic of conversation.

Obviously sensing that he didn't want to speak further on the subject of his half-brother, she relented and took a moment to remember her train of thought before the Kakashi interruption. Though she tried, all she could feel was disappointment.

However, if Itachi refused to talk about it, she would have to let it go…and save it for another time. Her curiosity was becoming too great, since there was suddenly this new connection between Itachi and the Temple.

Then it occurred to her just how Sasuke would react if he knew that she was talking to his hated brother—talking in a friendly manner, too. Judging by Sasuke's obvious hatred of Itachi (from what she heard at least), then he would kill her if he found out. She would be so dead.

Attempting to stop anymore fearful shivers from running down her spine, she concentrated once more on her original explanation, taking care to leave out the whole Amaterasu "dream". After all, she felt that Amaterasu's message had to remain secret…no matter how much she trusted her demon friend.

"They were doing a perimeter check, leaving Sasuke and I in the meadow." She began, never turning her eyes from his, their gaze locked to each other intensely. Such close proximity to him was making her nervous, and having him gaze at her in such an intensely penetrating way made her heart drum against her ribcage. Her body felt warm, but she fought against it all, forcing herself to at least try to mimic his perfect calm.

However, Itachi wasn't exactly calm either, though he did look it. He certainly wasn't ignorant to how close he was to her, and how he could feel her body heat mix and mingle with his own. It took great efforts to silence what his demon blood was telling him to do, and instead, picture her as the little deity from ten years ago rather than the mature (beautiful) and elegant female she had become.

It was the strangest feeling, something he had never felt before in his long life. It felt like his blood was calling out for her, wanting something from her even though he himself had no idea what it was. He hated feeling like he wasn't in control of his emotions, and it only seemed to happen with her.

Itachi lived for a couple of centuries, and he always remained the same—cool, calm, and collected. Over the course of more than a hundred years, he had trained himself to stay in control in all situations, and he was an expert at it. Then, suddenly, he met a little girl, and all of that hundreds of years of hard work had disappeared.

Ten years ago when he met and knew her, all it took was a few months with her and his self-control began to disintegrate. His control had weakened.

During the ten years of distance, however, he assumed that he had lost that weakness, that it wore off and he strengthened that part of himself. Apparently not, because seeing her again made him realize just how truly weak that part of himself was. Ten years of distance did nothing to improve that weakness; rather, his control over his emotions was very close to becoming nonexistent. He had to remedy that somehow. His instincts told him that he needed to get away and sever whatever tie he had with her.

But that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

He found that he could no more separate himself from her than wind could separate itself from the air, or the waves from the ocean.

"Um," Hinata began speaking again, dragging him out of his inner thoughts. "I guess that when they were doing that perimeter check, they came across a, um…a demon camp…not too far from where we were."

Of course. There were so many demon camps out there that it shouldn't have been surprising that her teammates had managed to stumble upon one. It also explained why there were demons lurking around the area that they occupied, and why it was so easy for Hinata to get attacked.

"Lady Tsunade figured that if there was a demon camp nowhere near demon territory then it had to mean something important." Hinata continued. "After a lot of discussion, we came to the conclusion that the most plausible and obvious reason for there being demons so near our territory…is because they plan on attacking us."

Itachi remained silent, seeing the logic and why it would be so easy for the humans to assume such things.

Hinata nibbled on her lip as if waiting for him to say something. When he didn't, she began to speak again in confirmation. "So is it true?"

His eyes found hers without much effort. "If I told you 'no', would you believe me?"

She glanced away briefly before gazing at him, eyebrows furrowed together. "You would lie to me?"

"Not everyone tells the truth."

"Only those who trust each other." She stated firmly. "I would never lie to you."

"It's not wise to put so much trust in your enemy." He was warning her.

"But…You're not my enemy."

"No?" he narrowed his eyes, but curiosity glinted within. "Then what am I?"

"A friend." She answered without hesitation.

"Demons and humans are never—"

"I know." She interrupted him. "But, you're different."

He was about to reply in the negative, because it was the truth. He really was no different than any other demon. Whether she knew it or not, he still slaughtered any human he came across, he still destroyed villages, and killed the innocent and unarmed. He was a true demon, and all humans were enemies no matter what sex or age. All humans except _her_, that is.

Perhaps that was why she thought he was so different than other demons; it was because he treated her so differently. But that was ignorant and naïve thinking on her part. Either that, or she really didn't care about what a murderous creature he was.

Whatever the case, he knew that despite what he said, she truly was no more an enemy to him than he was to her. They seemed to ignore the traditional hatred between their races, and all because they seemed to see something in the other that they perhaps wanted for themselves. She carried an innocence that he never had or even had a taste of, and he…he carried an invincible strength that was in her nature never to know.

But was that all that drew them to each other and kept them together?

Deep within Itachi's mind, he knew that wasn't the case. He had a feeling that there was more to their relationship than either of them understood or could comprehend at the moment.

Shaking himself out of such irritating thoughts, he focused on her face, which still remained so close to his, and yet neither of them chose to move any closer, which was probably for the better in his mind. "So, you're learning how to fight." he stated, getting them back on track to where they started.

Seeing his evasion to what they were previously talking about, she sighed before replying with a smiling affirmative. "Yes,"

He nodded once, staring at the night sky to determine the time before glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "Show me."

That was exactly what Hinata did _not _want to do at that moment. Her body had been protesting since she awoke, complaining from soreness and exhaustion. If it wasn't for the fact that she wanted to spend time with Itachi, she would be fast asleep…whether in her own bed or not.

Either way, and despite the complaining she was doing inwardly, all she ended up saying was, "Right now?" At seeing Itachi's deadpan stare, she sighed in surrender. "Alright…but I only just started today, so…I don't know that much yet, and I'm not really good at it either—" One sharp look from him and she was silent, realizing that complaining or giving excuses wasn't going to deter him from wanting to see whatever progress she made.

Tempted to sigh again, but refusing, she glanced around, trying to locate which tree trunk would act as a good training post.

Seeing her hopeless and searching gaze, Itachi raised a brow. "What."

She turned back to him, bringing a curled finger up to her bottom lip. "Um…I need to find something to practice on. Miss Kurenai had fighting posts set up for us, so I suppose I could use the—"

"Not the trees." He interrupted, moving until he was right in front of her again, which forced her to look upwards. "You will act as though I'm your opponent. Show me what you've learned so far."

"A-Are you sure? What if I…hurt you?"

Another glint of amusement and then a slow smirk. "You won't."

"Okay…I guess…" Hinata situated herself into the starting position that Kurenai taught her. "When do you want me to start?"

Itachi glanced over her awkward positioning and the way she shakily tried to remain in that position. With one fist in front of her and the other lower and further back, and legs spread and bent, she faced him with a shaky and tired determination. He could tell she was already struggling, but she was definitely attempting to hide it. It was all wrong…and that made him feel slightly angry. "Now."

As quickly as she could, she moved towards him, extending her fists in what seemed like blind panic—doing whatever it took just to land a hit. Of course, all he had to do was stand still and use his palms to catch every punch, and most of them were directed towards his face with a few headed towards his chest.

After each catch, she would pull back quickly just to throw another one. After awhile, she started implementing her legs, trying to kick and knock him off balance. However, once again, all he did was wrap a hand around her ankle or thigh to prevent the dangerous contact that she was _supposed _to be making. His grip was never tight or restricting, which allowed her to always escape and pull back, preparing herself for another round.

It was pathetic, Itachi realized. Even though she said that she had just started that day, it was obvious to tell how uncomfortable she was, and yet…she remained determined. What aggravated him more, though, was not how she was fighting, but rather the way she was fighting. The style that was being taught to her was all wrong and didn't suit her in the least. Whoever her teacher was, they were doing a pitiful job; either that, or he/she was rushing it, not giving Hinata the room to expand it in her own way.

It was no wonder that there weren't many worthy human adversaries anymore; especially if they were being taught like _this_.

Hinata was truly exhausted, and not to mention frustrated at the lack of her fighting talent. Itachi was a demon and one bred to kill, but still…She couldn't even graze him! His hands were so fast as they always seemed to block her from hitting him. While she was breathing heavily and probably showing her weariness on her face, he looked completely neutral, no emotion whatsoever…no strain, no struggle, no fatigue—nothing.

Of course, that only made her feel even worse. If she could only just land one hit…just one! But it was for naught. She was barely a beginner, and he was obviously the expert of the experts.

Damn.

"Enough." Itachi stated at the exact moment that he had his hands clenched around her own.

Hinata stopped with a relieved exhale, barely noticing Itachi quickly dispatch her hands. Stepping away to put distance between them, Hinata looked up at him shyly in the same way she did anytime she was about to be told her results on a grueling test. As if expecting the worst, she lowered her gaze to the ground and clenched her hands together behind her back. While she waited, she decided to focus on normalizing her breathing.

Itachi, for his part, had to determine the best way to say what needed to be said in regards to her training. While he had nothing to offer in regards to her goddess-given gifts, he did have quite a bit of knowledge and experience when it came to combat. Not to mention, he would be a better teacher if she was training to fight against demons.

Then again, if he was considering to be her teacher, it would be a frustrating task since he would be training someone who was not meant to fight.

On the other hand…Itachi wasn't one to balk at a challenge. First things first, though.

"Your trainer or teacher is doing a pitiful job."

Hinata snapped her gaze upwards, eyes widened in surprise. After all, that was not like anything she expected to hear from him. Her being a sad case of a fighter would be more accurate…more expected. So…he was angry at her teacher? At Miss Kurenai? No, that wasn't right. "It's only the first day," Hinata explained, defending her motherly caretaker. "She was just going over the basics—what everyone has to learn when they first start—"

"And for the majority of humans, that is the basics. That style is only considered to be the basics because it is the most common style among your race. It is the easiest to learn and the one that's usually guaranteed to work."

So…Hinata was confused. What exactly was his point and how did it link to Kurenai's teaching capabilities? She obviously didn't have to wait long for the answer since Itachi continued as if lecturing about something that should be obvious knowledge.

"In your case, however, it does not work, and it will never work."

"Why?" She really didn't understand; especially the part as to how he could know that with barely a minute of seeing her fighting skills. _Or lack thereof_, she added inwardly.

Itachi never thought of himself as the teacher type, and now he understood why. So often did he expect for everyone to carry the same basic knowledge, or at least what he considered the same basic knowledge, that when he came across someone who was clueless, all he could feel was frustration. Itachi was a professional, however. Never would he allow such irritated frustration to leak through to his expression. Instead, he maintained eye contact with her, and thought over how best to explain the complications of fighting styles.

"Every fighting style can be represented by an element."

"Like fire, wind, water…?" Hinata clarified to which he just nodded.

"And just as every style is represented by an element, every individual is as well. The style that is being taught to you is one of earth, and you will never be able to adapt to it because your body type is of a different element altogether."

Her brows furrowed. "How do you know my body type's element?"

He didn't answer right away, somewhat curious as to how she would take his explanation. When he spoke, his voice was fluid, and to Hinata, it was kind of mesmerizing (especially when it was combined with his intense focus on her). "It's in the way you move, the way you reach for objects, the way you turn your head when you're looking for something, the way you walk, the way your hair moves when the wind passes through it…" Once again, as if unintentionally or unknowing, he began to walk towards her while speaking. "It's represented in the way you speak, the way you smile, the way you look at someone…it's in every touch, every breath…"

Speaking of breath, she could feel his against her skin for the second or third time that night. And by the goddess, her heart was racing again. All she could focus on was repressing the blush that wanted to take over her face, because it was moments like when his face was so near hers that she was tempted to do things that she didn't understand.

"Most importantly…" Itachi continued, his ears twitching at hearing the rapid beating of heart. "It's in the way that your heart reacts to situations, the way that it thrums and pounds against your blood."

Hinata gulped, releasing her voice in an uncomfortable whisper. "So, what is my element?" She watched as his eyes traveled downwards before meeting hers again.

"Water."

"And yours?" Still a whisper, just as his tone had lowered to a murmur.

He hesitated, silently wanting to gauge her reaction. "Fire."

"Oh…" It was all she could say—all she could _think _of to say. Despite that, she couldn't help thinking about how…interesting that was. Weren't fire and water opposites? Practically enemies in a way? How could a fire-styled fighter possibly teach a water-styled fighter to learn combat skills? Still, though, she wanted to know exactly how someone of his element could see hers so clearly. Was it really that easy to see just by how she moved? Did he really pay that much attention to her?

She gulped again, uncertain about asking him about it; or more specifically, she was uncertain whether or not she wanted to hear his reasoning or explanation. It seemed too much like dangerous territory at that moment.

As Itachi thought back over everything he had said, he went straight into reprimanding himself for it, wondering if she realized just how much he had paid attention to her in the past, and of course, the present as well. However, that lasted for a short time when he also realized that judging by how she moved like the water, perhaps she _was _meant for fighting. With the right teacher, she could learn to become quite the deadly fighter.

All it took was the _right _teacher…

As if hearing his thoughts, Hinata finally spoke. "Can you teach me?"

Even though he appeared like he was considering whether or not to do it, weighing the options in his mind, he actually already had an answer. He already knew what he was going to do. It was one of those decisions made purely on the old time cliché of "if you want it done right, you got to do it yourself".

When it came to Hinata and her learning to protect herself, it most definitely had to be done right. When it came to her safety, he had learned that he was the only one capable of doing it correctly.

"Get in your starting position." he ordered.

Hearing it, Hinata smiled, knowing that his order was his way of agreeing to her proposal. With the smile still on her face, she lowered into the stance that Kurenai had taught her that morning, a stance that was apparently of the earth element. Although, Hinata had a feeling that Itachi only mentioned the elements to get her to understand that each individual fought in a unique way. Also, each individual couldn't learn something that their body wasn't designed for.

She could understand that now.

Once she fell into her stance, Itachi came near. "Don't move." Then, he began to correct her stance.

It began with his palm on her right forearm, moving it a little more outward and bending her elbow. Unbeknownst to Hinata, Itachi had gritted his teeth the moment his skin touched hers, wondering with frustration why it felt as though his blood were simmering beneath the surface of his skin.

He continued, however. He moved her other arm more forward, allowing the bend in her elbow to seem more fluid. Slowly, but surely, her whole body was beginning to take on more of a smooth structure. After all, if her element was water, then she had to imitate it to the best of her ability. That was what she was focused on—it was in the forefront of her mind…and it was the only way to attempt to keep her blush from turning her face into a look-a-like tomato.

All of that changed the moment he moved behind her and rested one hand over her shoulder and the other against her stomach. She inhaled sharply and bit down onto her bottom lip to keep from tensing to the point where it was noticeable.

Unfortunately, Itachi noticed, but instead of backing away, he just stared at the back of her head in curiosity and wonder…and a tinge of pride that seemed to come out of nowhere.

From behind her back, he watched her carefully while he silently manipulated her torso into a more flexible angle, one that felt unbelievably natural for the deity.

They both stayed silent with only the sound of their breathing echoing around them.

Her upper body was finished, and so he moved onto her legs.

Seeing him bend down, Hinata watched him out of the corner of her eye as he continued to manipulate her limbs, turning them this way and that. His touch was gentle, but commanding, and she found herself easing into the new stance, feeling it become a part of her.

"Um, this will help me fight better?" She asked, the words breaking the strange quiet.

Instead of agreeing, he said, "This will make your attacks more effective, and you won't be struggling as much. When you move, it'll appear natural and practiced, rather than…"

"Awkward and clumsy?" Hinata smiled.

The amusement stretched between them when their eyes met, and Hinata knew Itachi agreed even though he didn't say anything.

He eventually stood upright to assess the stance as a whole, and when he was satisfied, he stood in front of her and held up one open hand, palm facing her. "Use your right hand and punch my hand, but don't pull back afterwards. Once it hits, freeze your position."

She nodded once before jetting her fist forward into his palm, the rest of her body following in an instinctual sway. As commanded, once the flesh of her fist came into contact with his palm, she froze and gazed at him, awaiting her next order.

While her body stayed still, he did one more assessment of the way her body was positioned, feeling pleased at how well she adapted without really having to try.

It was more proof that this was exactly the type of style that suited her body.

"Move back into the stance." he ordered and she obeyed without a word. "You're right-handed, so that will be the arm that you attack with. Your left arm is for defense."

"Like blocking?"

"Yes, now aim your leg to hit here."

She did and froze when her ankle landed in his hand. Once again, he assessed the new positioning before giving another attack order.

Hinata was fairly sure that he trained her like that for an hour straight. Itachi continued with it until he felt that her body had comfortably adapted to the new positioning. Only then would he introduce her to the style's fighting techniques.

The entire hour or so consisted of Itachi giving her orders and assessing her body's movements, with Hinata obeying and muttering an occasional "Like this?", to which Itachi would only nod once.

It was strange for them both to secretly realize that this was how they had always built their relationship. Ten years prior, their relationship became something because Itachi had helped her perfect that significant song on her harp. Now, their relationship was beginning to strengthen because he was helping her to learn how to defend herself.

It was odd that just sitting and talking to him had become awkward and slightly uncomfortable, but him teaching her something actively always felt normal and special in its own way. It felt special because it was something so personal between them, a way for them to bond in the most peculiar of ways.

Hinata liked it, and on some level, she was fairly sure that Itachi did, too.

It was unfortunate that it had to end soon, since there were only so many hours in one night.

* * *

A fair distance away, Gaara reclined against a tree in the courtyard, sitting upon a branch with his arms folded over his chest and eyes closed. He had witnessed Hinata's infamous demon "friend" carry her out of her bedroom, and from his perspective, she looked asleep.

That worried him, and he had been seconds away from darting after the demon just to get her back.

Ever since _her _demon returned, Gaara had been debating what to say to her exactly. He told her some of the issues that were bothering him, but not the one that stuck out in his mind first and foremost. He wanted to explain to her how dangerous demons were, and her demon was no exception no matter what she said.

He felt the need to explain thoroughly about the horrendous mistake she was making. She probably would no more believe him than she did when he talked to her about severing the tie between them, because after all…they were _enemies_. They were all taught since they entered the temple that demons were the enemies, and he was told as a toddler that anything with demon blood was an enemy to humans. They all had to be exterminated.

Therefore, it would be wise if Hinata ended whatever relationship she and her demon had.

Then again, Gaara was one to talk.

He carried demon blood, and he was considered dangerous, and yet…he knew that Hinata would never turn her back on him. He knew that no matter what, he would always be her friend and reliable confidant. He knew that she would never betray him or look upon him as just the half-demon.

He knew that she would always look at him and see Gaara first, not the dangerous demon blood that ran through his veins.

There were so few people in his life who offered that to him, especially when they knew beforehand exactly what he was. Perhaps that was why he felt so fiercely protective of Hinata. He didn't want to lose someone that he had come to depend on in his own way.

He needed her. He needed what she offered. He depended on her unconditional trust and friendship.

Gaara had his siblings and Naruto, of course, but…his siblings were bound to him by blood and Naruto was the same as him. Hinata was the first who wasn't related and who wasn't like him and the very one who accepted him so easily…who accepted him with a smile.

It was his duty as her friend to protect her, whether she asked for it or not…even if it might ruin their friendship.

Whatever he would have to do to protect her, Hinata would just have to forgive him one day. He hoped she would, at least.

Speaking of Hinata, Gaara couldn't find it in himself to clench the worry that began escalating with every hour that passed by and Hinata hadn't returned.

What could they possibly be doing? What could that _demon _be doing? Was she alright?

Then, Gaara considered something that hadn't been far from his mind lately.

What if the demon finally decided to just take her with him? Hold her captive like the way a demon would?

What if Hinata decided to leave Konoha forever and live with her beloved demon instead?

What if she left them—him—for good? Never to return…

Gaara scowled in the darkness, his expression hidden by the branches.

If that was the case, then he supposed he would just have to go look for her and bring her back.

Gaara's eyes narrowed as he glanced at the night sky in contemplation. _They have until dawn._

* * *

On the opposite side of the temple, Sasuke was sitting atop his balcony railing with one knee pulled up to his chest and the other hanging off the edge. Resting an elbow on the upraised knee, Sasuke kept his focus on the stars that littered the black sky, their soft glow overpowered by that of the moon.

He was supposed to be sleeping like everyone else at the temple; well, almost everyone. The ones who weren't were, of course, those certain security force members who had a shift to do. He had already completed his with Naruto, which was always a pleasant headache, and now he was supposed to sleep until the next morning. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen since Sasuke couldn't find it in himself to fall asleep.

Then again, he was immensely tired with all of his senses turning into a bleary drone, but still…he couldn't sleep.

What kept him wondering and awake was the simple question of why he couldn't fall asleep. Was his mind really so occupied that it couldn't let his body rest for just an hour? How frustrating.

Either way, being awake when all others slept was a special feeling, a strange and peaceful feeling. Out of all the times in the day, it was this time that he was truly able to think about different things that he had always just considered in a brief moment before.

He thought about the friendships he held—mainly with Naruto, and the agitating mentor-student relationship he had with Kakashi.

He thought about how the majority of the deities went from being childish and annoying to annoying and preoccupied with their new…lovers? Whatever the case, he felt grateful that the blonde and pink-haired one no longer tormented him.

Then, he would think about the other deity, the one that didn't seem to really fit in with the others. In fact, she seemed like the kind of outsider that he and the redhead were. Naruto should have been an outsider, but since most of the temple residents had no idea about what he really was, they focused on his personality instead. As it turned out, Naruto was actually a likeable guy…unlike Gaara and Sasuke, apparently.

As for Hinata, though, Sasuke knew that there was nothing as significant as demon blood in her veins that separated her from the others. Despite that, there was definitely _something _that set her apart, _something _that made her different. He always thought it was the maturity in her eyes, or the way that she would stare at nothing with a contemplative look on her face. But, really, those were just signs of what she might have been hiding, and Sasuke was sure that whatever she was hiding was what made her different.

He wanted to know what it was—he wanted to know what she was so keen on hiding.

He supposed that if he really wanted to know her secret, he would have to get close to her, and that (for all he knew) could turn into a disaster. For one thing, she might end up thinking he had some lame crush on her, which would never be true! Sure, she was cute, but…

Sasuke shook himself mentally, reminding himself that if she were to have an interest in anyone, it would be her guardian, and she didn't seem like the fickle type either. Therefore, he wouldn't have to worry about her having a stupid crush on him. If anything, she would probably assume that he just wanted to be friends. She always seemed so eager and happy to be friends with someone…Although, she did seem kind of scared of him, but only the goddess knew why. He rolled his eyes.

To get close to her, he would have to come off as a friend…and that would be impossible for a variety of reasons.

First off, her guardian, Gaara, and that older blonde deity seemed really protective of her, so the chances of him ever getting close to her were slim to none; especially since none of those three trusted him in the least.

And even if he were to get close enough to talk to her, she'd probably run away in fear.

Sasuke groaned, knowing that he would probably just have to die with his persistent need to know her secret and yet never know. That was just irritating.

Clearing his thoughts, Sasuke glanced down, determined to focus on nothing, but his eyes caught onto the tattoo-like mark on his wrist. Immediately, he thought of his brother, his _half_-brother, the one who took away the only family Sasuke had—the bastard.

Anger rippling through him, Sasuke gripped onto his wrist, effectively covering up the mark. As he did so, he glared and scowled and seethed about how he would one day find and kill his so-called brother.

One day…he would get his vengeance. He would train until he dropped, and not stop until he became unbelievably strong—so strong that his brother wouldn't last a minute against him. And then…and then…Sasuke would search for him, and not stop until he found him, and only then would Sasuke be able to free himself of revenge by letting his brother's blood quench the thirst of the ground.

That's all it would take. He could handle it.

The only problem he might have is figuring out where his brother would be…where he would be hiding.

_He's probably halfway across the world._

* * *

"That's not right." Itachi stated, causing for Hinata to stop her technique run-through.

Heavily breathing, she turned to him, frozen in her last positioning. "I'm still doing it wrong? But—"

"Now you're putting too much focus on your footwork and not enough on your upper body's movements." Whereas before, she was doing the opposite. Itachi found that she was very good at correcting her mistakes, but she needed to learn how to correct not just one part of her body, but the rest as a whole. Even through his inner frustration, he remained impossibly patient with her, taking care not to reveal the agitation he felt. If there was one thing for sure, it was that demons were definitely easier to train than humans. Their races really were exponentially different, which was disappointing in Itachi and Hinata's case as of the moment.

Hinata focused on her position again, moving back a step to repeat where she had failed.

"Angle your body more towards the right." Itachi commanded. "When you move forward to attack, your torso will automatically angle towards the left."

Hinata nodded. "Right," Taking a deep inhale, she moved forward, extending her right arm for attack and turning her body as he told. Unfortunately, it wasn't right…again.

"Stop." Itachi muttered in what sounded like a sigh. "You're holding back and hesitating too much, which means that your attack isn't extending far enough."

"Like this?" She repeated the motion, but when she looked at him, the expression in his eyes told her that she had done it wrong again.

Instead of saying anything more, he walked over to her and stood slightly next to her, but slightly behind her as well.

Hinata lowered her gaze in shame. "I'm sorry. I can tell that this is making you angry, so if you don't want to train me anymore, I'll understand."

He watched her as she spoke, no expression showing his reaction to her words. Instead, he wrapped an arm around her waist, resting his hand on the lower part of her ribcage. His right arm ran parallel to her own right arm, his palm falling over the back of her fist. "For some, all they need to do to learn a technique is to watch and memorize the different movements, keeping track of when and how fast or how much strength to put into it. Going through it once is all they would need to learn it."

Hinata looked back at him in shock that he seemed to ignore her statement and continue her training. Even so, she listened to whatever he was explaining.

"For you," Itachi continued. "You have to feel it. Your body has to memorize it before your mind; otherwise, you'll never learn it properly."

"So, what should I do?"

His eyes found hers with a stern order. "Shut off your mind, and let your body learn it for you." His body moved behind hers, his torso touching her back, and his arms seemingly attaching themselves to her skin. His head moved out of her sight, so that his mouth was just above her ear. "Stop trying to analyze the movements, and feel them instead. Now, pay attention."

She didn't nod or reply; rather, she just took a breath and readied herself for him to lead her through the technique in a very hands-on way that made her heart flutter nervously.

Once again, Itachi would have to ignore the way his blood boiled at the touch of her skin on his. Whatever the reaction was, he sure as hell didn't want to wonder about it now. With the help of his hands, arms, and basically his whole body, Hinata was able to move through the technique with perfection, while at the same time doing exactly as he ordered. She closed her eyes and focused on the feel of the movements and how her body instinctually melted together with the technique, as if it already knew it by heart.

She tried to focus on memorizing those feelings and the way each movement made her feel, so that when she would do it again, she would know automatically what did and didn't feel right.

She also couldn't deny how comfortable and protected she felt having Itachi so close to her, almost embracing her in a way…a very intimate way. For some reason, she wanted to lean into him, but refused when the "inappropriate" thought made her blush.

Itachi, too, had to ignore what it felt like to have her in his arms. It was like nothing he had ever experienced, and because of that, he ignored it and pushed it away, viewing it as nothing more than a distraction.

At the current time, he really couldn't allow for distractions…

Easier said than done.

Both of them quickly pushed away their previous thoughts to focus with extreme determination on the technique. Hinata let him lead her, while at the same time, trying to predict the next move according to her body.

Itachi, on the other hand, moved forward with her, manipulating her limbs to fall into the fighting style. His eyes narrowed when they were coming to the end of the specific fighting move, debating whether or not to try something purely experimental. Acting on the decision, Itachi made her speed up, her arms and legs moving faster but in a smooth, almost dance-like manner. Then, just as quickly, Itachi started her into the final positioning, but let go of her to watch what she would do.

With her eyes still closed, Hinata allowed her body to do what her mind obviously failed at. In fact, the only part her mind played was telling her body where and when to move. The last few movements, she predicted in the way that her body practically did for her. Before she knew it, she was stopped in the final positioning, her eyes slowly opening in surprise. She couldn't feel Itachi against her anymore, and yet, she had completed the last moves on her own, and she thought that she finally did it right. Or, at least, it felt right.

In confirmation, she turned around to see Itachi not too far away, a pleased glint in his eyes. "Did I do it right?"

He nodded. "Almost perfectly." Then, he watched as joy seemed to overflow within her. Her eyes sparkled with happiness and her smile beamed widely, all of it directed at him.

She wanted to dance and jump around in her excitement, and scream to the heavens about her accomplishment. However, she tried to control herself and instead just smiled with an occasional laugh. "Thank you."

"We'll have more to go over tomorrow." he replied, implying that her training was far from over. However, because the sky was beginning to brighten, he knew that he would have to take her back to the temple.

Hinata nodded in understanding, her smile practically etched onto her face. Eventually, it began to sober just slightly. "Do I have to go back now?"

"You will need your rest."

Her smile was definitely smaller. "I understand."

There was a tense silence between them before Itachi broke from it. He extended his hand out towards her. "Come."

Ever the obedient one, Hinata walked towards him, her movements returning to a tired sluggishness. Once again, she was reminded of how much she did need some sleep. When her hand fell into his, he moved quickly. He gripped her hand, pulled her toward him, and then picked her up into his arms. Then, he began to run towards the walls of Konoha, barely pausing when he reached them before jumping to the top.

After determining that there weren't any who might be watching, Itachi leaped to her balcony, and as soon as his feet landed on the ground, he released her. Standing up straight again, she turned back to look at him with a smile of farewell. "We'll continue tomorrow night?"

He nodded once. "Whenever you are able, practice what you've learned, and don't stop until you've mastered it."

"I will." She promised.

He should've nodded again, but found that he couldn't ignore the strange feeling that he was being watched. Quickly locking onto the source, he turned his head sideways only to see two bright aquamarine eyes staring at him from another balcony.

Tensing automatically but without notice, Itachi's blood-red eyes narrowed, the three black commas starting to spin threateningly.

Seeing this, Hinata followed Itachi's gaze only to see Gaara staring at her demon friend with a clear warning. Panicking, Hinata gripped onto Itachi, forcefully turning him to face her instead of Gaara. "No, don't, please." She pleaded, trying to get him to look at her rather than her red-haired friend. "It's alright, Gaara knows about you."

Hearing that, Itachi speedily turned his full attention onto her, his expression a mix between shock and disappointment.

When he didn't say anything, Hinata continued in a meeker voice. "He's the only one I've told about you. He won't threaten you in any way," She paused to look where Gaara was standing only to notice that he had disappeared, either inside his bedroom or off to some secret place just for him. "He's one of my best friends."

Itachi looked at her sharply. "He's a half-demon."

"I know." She smiled hesitantly. "When you left ten years ago, Gaara was the one who comforted me and helped me. He understood, and…he'd never tell anyone my secret…even though he doesn't really approve of you too much." She laughed then.

"You trust him." Itachi stated, not looking at her.

"I do." Hinata smiled again.

Itachi considered that, and would've commented, but his thoughts trailed off into something else that made him curious…and slightly irritated at the implications. Still not looking at her, he spoke tersely. "Are you that close with my half-brother as well?"

"Sasuke?" Hinata asked, and quickly closed her mouth when he turned to her with that sharp look again. "Um, no, not really. He doesn't talk to me very much, and when he does, it tends to be something…kind of condescending, so…I don't talk to him very often either."

Itachi nodded with satisfaction and a twinge of relief. "He's the one that you'll want to keep this secret from the most."

Hinata agreed. "He might try to kill me."

At hearing her nervous laugh, Itachi's brows furrowed with the knowledge that his brother would most certainly do that.

Great…more threats to Hinata. Protecting her would definitely be a full-time job. He might as well just take her with him at all times—have her pack some clothes and belongings and then leave with him to wherever.

It was a sarcastic thought, but the more Itachi thought about it, the more that the idea appealed to him. When he looked at her, he tried to imagine what it would be like to have her constantly around, always in his grasp, never to return to the temple again…completely his own.

He grunted inwardly, shredding his mind of such thoughts, telling himself that it couldn't possibly ever happen. He was a demon and she was a human—such things were never meant to happen between their two races.

Then again, hasn't the impossible already happened? He and Hinata got along just fine, spending their nights together in companionable comfort. They had already achieved what no other from either of their races has accomplished. So, it wasn't really that impossible then to take her with him.

There would be just one obstacle to keep it from happening—her temple family. If the redheaded half-demon was anything to go by, he doubted that any of her friends would let him take her without a problem. Which led him to wonder if _she _would let him take her.

"Itachi?" Hinata questioned after awhile of him being silent.

His inner thoughts disappeared as he focused on her again. "Be ready by tomorrow night."

At that, he turned on his heels and began heading for the balcony railing. Hinata was confused as to what he could've possibly been thinking about that caused for their prior conversation to be cut so shortly.

"Itachi," She called to him while grasping onto his cloak to keep him from leaving. When she saw him turn to face her, she seemed to fumble for words at first before eventually smiling at him. "Goodnight."

His face neared hers to the point where she could feel his breath fan against her face. His eyes stared intensely into her own, conveying amusement. "Go to sleep, Hinata."

And then he was gone, leaving Hinata standing there with a flustered blush covering her cheeks.

Shaking her head, she had to tell herself that she had to work on trying not to blush every time he came near her. The way it made her heartbeat speed up, she might end up having a heart attack soon if her blushing continued.

And why was she blushing every time he touched her or got close to her anyway? She wasn't like that with Neji. Perhaps it was because she wasn't used to Itachi being like that, or maybe…now that she was older, maybe his touch just felt different than she remembered. Perhaps his touch meant something else to her now.

It would take time before she would realize what that "something else" was.

* * *

Gaara finally got a good look at the demon who apparently held ownership over a large part of Hinata's life.

Honestly, he looked like Sasuke. Not identical, of course, but there were definitely some similarities.

What struck Gaara the most, however, was the demon's eyes and gaze. Eyes the color of tainted blood with promises of death laced within.

Gaara was not easily intimidated, but there was something about that demon that spoke of danger—not towards Hinata, but towards him, and he supposed anyone else who got in the demon's way.

When their eyes had connected, they both exchanged glares of warning, and despite Gaara's impenetrable calm, he could feel waves of demonic power. All of it only meant one thing…this demon was to be feared by all.

If he were to ever fight the demon, he would be killed. Gaara knew that, and it didn't bode well for his protect-Hinata plan.

Well, shit. This was becoming more complicated than the redhead could have ever expected. The only comfort was knowing that judging by how Itachi had looked at her, Hinata was is no sort of danger.

Then again…judging by the way the demon looked at her…the danger might be in a different form altogether.

That certainly didn't bode well in Gaara's mind.

* * *

"_There is no safety-net to protect against attraction."_

_-A.C. Swinburne_

* * *

**I just realized that I've been working on this story for a little over two years now. Good God! I'm so glad that you guys like it, because I couldn't imagine anyone wanting to stick with a story for that long. Oh well, it should hopefully be done by the end of this year. I'm pulling for August, but I have my doubts, since this story is going to be huge.**

**A big THANK YOU to all my reviewers! I can never express enough how I love hearing from you guys.**

_**Winterkaguya**_**, **_**Cheh**_**, **_**lala's world**_**, your guys' intuition is always spot on!**

_**Itachi's Insanity**_**, I loved your review! Thank you!**

_**Darth-Taisha**_**, your take on Temari has always been my opinion too. Especially since Temari was always one of my favorite characters. She has depth to her that a lot of people don't see.**

_**NarutoAngel**_**, I'm glad to have helped you in return for the help you gave me. I can't wait to see the finished products!**

_**HeartOfEmerald**_**, Don't you worry. I'm working on building up to that "action", because I wouldn't mind a little of it either :P**

**To everyone else who reviewed, I love you guys and thanks for the awesome reviews!**

…**I certainly say "awesome" a lot, don't I? I need some new words '-_-**

**Tranquilwriter**


	23. Strain

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**AGE REMINDER: Rookie Nine: 18 ****—**** Neji, Tenten, Lee: 19 ****—**** Kankuro: 20 ****—**** Temari: 21**

**I dedicate this chapter to NarutoAngel/HotBlackAngel. Thank you for all your hard work, and your recent pic is just beautiful!**

**Readers, check it out! (Link on my profile as always)**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XXII**

**Strain**

* * *

"_Feelings are not supposed to be logical. Dangerous is the man who has rationalized his emotions."_

_-David Borenstein_

* * *

"Hinata,"

She was being shaken; although, it felt more like a continual gentle nudging.

"Hinata?"

A warm palm rested against her cheek, a thumb smoothing over her skin.

She crinkled her nose and closed her eyes even tighter than they already were.

"Hinata?"

Slowly, and with much protesting from her body, she finally inched her eyes open, seeing a blurred figure right above her.

Blinking a few times to clear her vision, she was finally able to see Neji, who was sitting on her bed and leaning over her, his hand still against her cheek.

He smiled uncertainly. "Are you alright?"

"Hm?" She was too tired to use her voice.

"Are you not feeling well?" Seeing her confusion, he smiled again. "You're usually awake by now. This is the first time that I've had to wake you up for breakfast. You didn't even hear me knocking, did you?"

Her confusion began to clear as she realized that she must have slept in. "What time is it?"

He chuckled in reply. "About the time that we'd usually be arriving in the dining hall."

"Oh no!" She was ready to push herself up, but Neji's hand seemed to hold her down.

Gently and with a concentrated and worried frown on his face, his hand moved to her forehead. With the back of his hand, he tried to gauge her temperature. "I don't think you're fevered." His hand disappeared to instead rest on his leg. "Did you not sleep well?"

She smiled shyly. "It feels like I only slept for a couple of hours." In reality, she knew that she probably only slept for a total of three or four hours, and she was certainly feeling it.

Neji grunted in thought. "I'll go tell Lady Tsunade that you need a day off."

"No!" Hinata grasped onto his clothes, restricting him from leaving. "It's only the second day of training—I can't take a day off! And the pavilion—I…I can't just…not be there."

"Hinata," Neji sighed with amused frustration. "You can't train properly if you're exhausted, and you can't work in the pavilion if there's a chance you'll end up falling asleep on your patients."

"That won't happen…" She muttered in defeat.

"I'm fairly sure that it will. And if it doesn't…then you'll only exhaust yourself further, and then you will become sick and have to stay in bed for more than just a day." At seeing her distraught disappointment, he leaned toward her to grasp her chin with his fingers. "Hey…It's not a crime to take a day off every once in awhile. No one will fault you for that."

"I will." She murmured under her breath, but Neji heard.

He chuckled again. "Lay back down and go back to sleep. Once you've fully rested, then you're more than welcome to come train or work at the pavilion. But, I'm not allowing you to leave your bed until you've regained all your energy, understand?"

She eventually nodded, despite her anger at her exhausted body.

Neji nodded, pleased with her final consent. "I'll have some food brought up for you." He got up off her bed and began heading towards the door. Just before he left, he turned back to her with a stern and commanding expression. "Get some rest—I'm serious, Hinata."

"I will, I promise." She brought her covers up to her chin, keeping her eyes trained on him, noticing his smile of approval just before he closed her door behind him, and then it was just her and her bed.

Sleep was obviously calling out to her, and who was she to refuse?

_A few hours won't hurt, I suppose…Just a few…_

* * *

When Hinata awoke again, she felt energized, no fatigue whatsoever. Although, rather than hopping out of bed and beginning her day, she instead just laid on her side with her covers up to her chest, and her gaze dazedly focused outside her balcony.

The late nights with Itachi were starting to catch up to her, and not in a good way. Her body was not very pleased with the lack of sleep, but she wasn't willing to give up any hours that she could be spending with her demon companion.

Perhaps if she were to leave earlier rather than in the middle of the night…it might work. She'd definitely have to discuss it with Itachi—figure out a new plan that would agree with her body's sleeping regimen.

Then, the more she thought, she realized that there was another problem.

Itachi wanted her to practice the "water" style, but Kurenai would be expecting her to learn the "earth" style instead. And it would certainly be hard to explain why she was suddenly using a different fighting style, one that apparently only the strongest and most powerful human warriors knew.

How could she possibly explain it…?

Then it hit her.

Immediately, she jumped out of her bed and threw on her usual gown. Off to her side, she spotted a tray of food that had gone cold and must have been placed there while she was asleep. Smiling with inward gratitude toward Neji, she ripped off a piece of bread and left her room, heading straight in the direction of the library.

No one was around, of course. The cooks were in the kitchen preparing for lunch, the maids were probably cleaning the individual bedrooms, and everyone else was out in the courtyard training. She would be completely alone to do her research.

And research she did.

Half an hour into her research, Hinata could be found sitting at a desk in the library, one scroll laid out before her and a pile of scrolls on her left.

Surely it had to be somewhere.

Surely someone had recorded it after all those centuries of non-stop fighting.

Suddenly, a smile stretched upon Hinata's lips in victory.

_Found it!_

* * *

With selected scroll in hand, Hinata made her way out to the courtyard, aiming for where the deities were training. She could already make out Kurenai's form overlooking the progress of Ino, Tenten, and Temari. Lady Tsunade was probably over with Sakura, if Hinata had to guess.

Either way, when Hinata approached, Temari was the first to spot her. Standing straight and wiping the sweat from her brow, she smirked. "Well, well, look who decided to get out of bed finally."

Hinata smiled at her teasing before shrugging. "I didn't sleep well last night."

"Well, don't make this sleeping in a habit, Hinata." Kurenai spoke as she came near the younger deity. "Maybe you should start going to bed earlier, or at least figure out what your sleeping issue is and fix it."

"I just went to bed late," Hinata replied. "I'll start going to bed earlier."

"Good." Kurenai smiled in approval. "You ready to start training?"

"A-Actually, Miss Kurenai, um…" Hinata bit her lip, not entirely sure of what to say.

Kurenai raised a brow. "What is it?"

"Um, I was doing some research, and…" Hinata brought the scroll out in front of her for Kurenai to take. "There's a fighting style that I would like to try."

Furrowing her brows, Kurenai took the scroll in her grasp and analyzed the writings and drawings. After glancing over it thoroughly, her once furrowed brows rose in surprise. "Why this one?"

"Well," Hinata temporarily fumbled with her words. "I was studying the different fighting styles and thought that I would try this one out, and I did, and…it just…felt better."

Kurenai slowly nodded. "Okay…" She rolled up the scroll and motioned Hinata over to her training spot. "Let's see how it goes, then."

"Thank you," Hinata smiled happily. When Hinata settled into place, she turned back to Kurenai. "Would you like me to show you what I've learned so far?"

The older woman smiled encouragingly. "Please do."

With another happy smile that quickly morphed into determination upon falling into her stance, Hinata inhaled and exhaled deeply. Only then did she begin.

She followed through on every movement that Itachi taught her, keeping check on what felt right and what didn't. She knew that she was performing it well, but not according to Itachi's standards. She was still stumbling slightly, trying to remember the exact positioning. The entire style felt so natural for her, and yet, there was something missing.

As Hinata extended into the final position, she realized why it suddenly felt so different.

Itachi wasn't there.

Apparently, even after only one night of training, she got used to having him at her back, his gentle and demanding hands guiding her body through the technique. She inwardly felt off balance without him there, and that worried her.

She was worried not only because it would affect her learning the technique, but also because that meant that she was more attached to his presence than she originally thought.

Hinata was not ignorant; she knew that ever since she met Itachi, she was attached to him. Even after ten years of absence, she remained loyally attached. That was normal—she was used to it. But…since when had she become attached to his touch and the feel of his body against hers?

A bright blush threatened to reign dominance over her face, and it would have if she wasn't concentrating so hard on finishing the ending to the technique.

Instead, she gulped and felt her heartbeat race at the memories of the previous night. The feel of his chest at her back, his hand smoothing over her skin and raising goose bumps, his breath fanning against her face, the intensely unreadable emotion in his eyes when he looked at her, the enticing urge she would have to glide her fingers over his jaw and through his hair, the unfamiliar feeling she would have whenever he came near…

Hinata halted in place at a dawning realization, one that she figured would be better left unknown.

Gulping again, Hinata stared at nothing while a knowing thought ran through her mind.

She was attracted to Itachi…_very _attracted to him.

_Oh Goddess, no…_

A laugh interrupted her internal panic, followed by a hand resting on her shoulder. "No need to be embarrassed, Hinata. You did excellent!" Kurenai complimented with pride. "You're a little shaky in some parts, but overall, you did very well. And you're right, this style does suit you a lot better."

Shaking herself from her previous thoughts, Hinata turned to her teacher with a small smile. "Thank you…"

"Now," Kurenai suddenly looked excited, as if she was just provided with a challenge. "Let's see if we can't make you a master of this technique by lunch."

* * *

Excitement and…anxiety—all mixed in one emotion.

It made him wonder what Hinata was doing. First, he sensed a restless excitement from her, something akin to what he sensed from her the night before during training. But then, that emotion switched to just a regular type of excitement that was mixed with a familiar sense of her being nervous about something.

Hmm, odd.

Itachi wanted her to go back to the first emotion. It made him feel pleased to sense it from her. It made him want to hear the rapid beating of her heart beneath his fingertips, and it brought back the same feeling he had when his skin came in contact with hers—his blood simmering beneath the surface, the natural demonic urge to—

Itachi grunted, interrupting his own thoughts. Instead, he tried to focus on other things, like how it was about time for his afternoon meal.

Leaving his cave, he ventured out into the forest, intent on killing whatever animal crossed his path. A large part of his demon self wanted to mutilate the unknowing animal, tear it to shreds so that it's lifeblood ran over his hands like oil. At least then he would be able to release his current frustrations, and just for one gruesome moment, not consider his unwanted attraction to his deity.

Attraction…to his deity…Damn it.

Luckily for him, his thoughts would be interrupted once again.

A familiar smell filtered through the air, alighting Itachi's senses to human intruders. They were close, too, and coming right towards him.

Glaring in irritation, he leaped up onto a nearby tree branch and melted into the tree's shadows, waiting for the humans to enter his line of sight. When they did, he realized that they weren't just regular humans, but specially trained warriors, and they looked as though they were scouting or tracking something…perhaps him.

There were two of them, along with a dog that kept its nose to the ground, obviously leading the humans to the origin of whatever was being smelt.

The dog raised its head suddenly, releasing a growl through its sharp teeth.

"What do ya got there, buddy?" One of the men bent down to stroke the dog's fur.

"Demon tracks?" The other man muttered in question.

"Guess so. Be on your guard. The demon bastard's got to be around here somewhere."

"Got it. Let's follow the tracks." He said as both he and his companion readied their weapons and headed in the direction of Itachi's cave.

That would be trouble, Itachi knew. Only one human should know where his cave was—any others would have to be…removed. If he planned on staying in the area for awhile, then he would just have to protect his territory while not attracting attention either.

Not a problem. He smirked and waited until the humans got closer to his cave before jumping from the tree to the ground in silence.

The two humans finally arrived at the mouth of the cave, obvious surprise and panic showing on their faces. Their dog began barking and growling while spinning around crazily, the canine barely being restrained by its leather leash.

"Where's the demon?" One of the men whispered fiercely to his fellow warrior. "I don't see him in the cave."

"Neither do I, but the dog is going crazy. The demon's got to be around here somewhere, so be on the lookout. We can't let it sneak up on—"

A barely noticeable thud sounded right behind them.

Raw fear ripped through their spines; especially when the dog turned and began growling fiercely. Gripping onto the hilts of their swords until their knuckles turned white, the two warriors slowly turned, their eyes growing wide at the sight of a demon with unique blood-red eyes. The demon was looking at them before glancing to the dog emotionlessly.

Although, there had to have been something in Itachi's eyes, because the dog sensed the danger and started to whine rather than growl.

The humans hardly noticed their loyal canine hiding behind their legs, itching to run away. They were more focused on the instinctual urge to run and get to safety, rather than how they were trained to fight demons like the one in front of them. Humans were known to have dull senses, but even the most ignorant of humans would be able to sense the danger from the dark-haired demon—it practically rolled off of him in waves.

Itachi never liked having pent-up frustration, so the two humans came at the perfect time. What better way to release one's frustrations than to slaughter a few intruders?

Repressing the urge to smirk in amusement, Itachi reached for the sword strapped to his back before pulling it out to hang at his side. His deadly gaze never strayed from the humans, curious as to what they were going to do—run or fight?

Surprisingly, it was the dog who charged first, which was strange since it seemed terrified just a short moment ago. Whatever the case, the matter was dealt with quickly. Just as the dog had leaped toward him, Itachi's hand stretched outward to catch the dog around the throat, suspending the animal in mid-air.

With a short flick of his wrist, the dog's neck snapped, and when Itachi dropped the body to the ground, it remained lifelessly without motion. His attention immediately returned to the two humans, who were staring at him with typical fear.

However, as every warrior knew, fear usually acted as a trigger for adrenaline, and that was exactly was motivated the two humans to take charge and try to kill their opponent.

Rather than finishing them quickly as Itachi usually did since long battles became boring after awhile, he decided to "play" with them a little.

This playing, of course, consisted of avoiding their attacks, and instead, slicing their limbs at vital points—not enough to kill quickly, but slowly and not without pain.

It wasn't until the two warriors' limbs became useless that Itachi finally figured that he might as well end it. All it took was two simple decapitations and his "playing" was over.

Glancing with disinterest at the bodies lying on the ground before him, Itachi determined that he would have to destroy all evidence of the human warriors, which wouldn't be a problem—it was usually just time-consuming.

As for the dog…Well…Itachi did need to eat…even though he didn't really prefer dog-meat.

* * *

By the time dinner came around, no one was as exhausted as they were the previous day. Hinata assumed that she would be after the way that Kurenai drilled her during training—even though it was done in a gentle manner. Even so, Hinata was shocked that her muscles weren't hurting and she wasn't as tired as she assumed she would be. She supposed that it was her body's way of getting used to the new exercise.

As Hinata glanced around the dinner table, she could tell that it was the same for all the others. It made her want to smile, but that urge quickly died when she noticed that her red-haired friend was close to glaring at her, and seemed to have been doing it unnoticeably for awhile.

Her eyes widened slightly in surprise and question. It made her wonder if he was angry or something, and if so, then why—oh…that's right…Gaara did finally see Itachi the previous night and with her no less. She knew that Gaara had seen glimpses before, but it was the first time that he had practically seen him in person…and they definitely didn't react too well to each other from what she noticed. That certainly wasn't good, especially since she was counting on having Gaara's help soon, and she wouldn't get it if he was angry at her.

Somewhat suddenly, she stood up and stepped away from her unfinished meal, which only caused for Neji and Temari to look at her questionably.

"What are you doing?" Temari asked.

Neji seemed concerned. "Hinata?"

She smiled at them reassuringly. "I think I'll go to bed early tonight." She laughed quietly. "I don't want to end up sleeping in again."

Temari laughed and smirked. "Good idea. It's not fair that you get to sleep in and the rest of us don't."

Neji was about to get out of his chair. "Would you like me to—"

"No," Hinata held up her hand in a motion to stop him. "It's alright. You haven't finished eating yet, so…I'll be fine."

He eventually nodded, but with hesitancy. "Alright…I'll see you in the morning."

She smiled again. "Goodnight,"

Neji and Temari watched her leave and went back to their meals as soon as she had disappeared from the dining hall. Gaara, however, continued to stare, knowing instinctually that Hinata wasn't tired, and that the reason she left so early had to be because she had something planned. Something that, no doubt, had to do with her beloved demon.

However, when Gaara returned to his room after dinner, he wondered if his assumption was proven false since Hinata obviously hadn't left yet and her demon obviously hadn't arrived. He knew this because when he arrived in his room and shut the door behind him, Hinata was waiting at his balcony with the light from the night sky being all that proved her presence. When she noticed him, she smiled shyly in welcome, seemingly a bit embarrassed about being in his room without his permission.

Neither said anything for awhile, Hinata unsure with what to say and Gaara waiting for her explanation.

Finally, Hinata fumbled some type of beginning to the soon-to-be conversation. "So…You finally saw Itachi…"

"He's dangerous."

Hinata seemed surprised at Gaara's quick response, or statement more like it, and even more so at what he said. Eventually, she nodded in reply. "Yes…I suppose he's just as dangerous as any other demon—"

"No," Gaara interrupted sternly. "He's worse."

Hinata glanced away in thought before she smiled uncomfortably, but with inner confidence in her words. "Not to me."

_No, _Gaara agreed. _Not to you._ From what he had witnessed the previous night, the demon seemed more…territorial than anything else; at least, he was when it came to Hinata. The demon threatened Gaara with his eyes in the same way that a wild animal would threaten whatever got too close to his meal or offspring or territory altogether—basically anything that belonged to him. For this Itachi, it seemed that it was Hinata who belonged to him. Gaara did not like that at all.

Not exactly privy to her friend's inner thoughts, Hinata began to speak again. "I wanted to explain to you what happens when Itachi takes me outside the village."

Obviously interested, Gaara stared at her with rapt attention.

Hinata shrugged innocently. "He's training me…to fight demons."

Gaara's eyes narrowed skeptically. "A demon training a human how to kill those of his own race…"

"I know," Hinata looked away, understanding Gaara's skepticism. "But it's not as simple as you think. He's training me to defend myself in case I ever attacked again and he's not there to protect me."

"Does he not know about your guardian?" the question almost sounded sarcastic, but since it was Gaara who said it, it just sounded like a statement.

"He does, but…" She laughed under her breath in amusement. "I don't think he trusts any of my protectors."

Gaara grunted, not amused at all. Despite his annoyance at the whole situation, he couldn't help but see the benefit from the demon teaching her how to fight. After all, who better than a demon to teach her how to fight other demons? It was an opportunity that seemed impossible.

But obviously not for Hinata, who was favored by a very powerful and dangerous demon. Seeing the blood-diamond necklace once again around her neck, he wondered if that was Itachi's way of claiming her as whatever the hell she was to him.

A student or pupil? No. Why waste his time and energy?

No, there was definitely more to their relationship than Hinata explained, or…more to it than she was aware of. Once again, Gaara didn't like it.

Frowning slightly, Gaara looked at her levelly. "Is that all you wanted to say?"

"Um…" She paused, uncertain how he would react to the next thing she had to say. "I have a favor to ask."

He raised a brow in expectation.

"Would you…Could you possibly…if you don't mind, that is, um…help me get over the wall?"

"Why?"

"I think that it would be better if I started training with Itachi earlier, before I go to bed…That way, I won't be missing so much sleep." She stopped for a moment, trying to gauge his reaction. "I haven't talked about this with Itachi since I just thought of it today, so…he doesn't know, which is why I'd like to leave now, and—"

"When will you be back?" Gaara interrupted her nervous ramble.

She thought seriously about it, not entirely sure herself about the answer. "I suppose…in two or three hours…four at the most."

"No later." He set his condition, not giving her enough time to agree before walking towards the balcony and looking around for any watchers.

When it was clear, he turned to her, and she suddenly felt sand wrapping around her legs, keeping her stable.

At seeing her momentary panic, he had the urge to smirk. "Relax. This is how you're getting over the wall."

"Is it dangerous?" Her eyes were wide with fear.

"It won't be. Just don't move."

She nodded nervously and closed her eyes tightly once she was being lifted off the ground. She tried to keep them closed upon realizing that she was floating on a sheet of sand in mid-air. The only frightening part was being so far above ground—everything else was just fine. The sand wasn't moving fast, and she did feel safe enough to where she wouldn't fall.

When she had at last reached the other side and her feet found the grassy ground, the sand seemed to slither away through the cracks in the wall. Whispering a silent thank-you to Gaara, she turned on her heels and headed for the meadow.

It was no surprise that the meadow was empty when she entered it. That only seemed to give her an excuse to go search for him on her own, and she definitely wanted to see where he was staying or sleeping. She hoped that he wasn't sleeping on the hard ground every night, but then again, maybe that didn't bother demons.

Either way, she wanted to satisfy her curiosity, and the best way to do that was to go search for him in the direction that she always used to see him leave in.

That was where it became difficult. It was dark, it was cold, the forest was dense, and every shadow and noise made her heart beat a little faster. Going off on her own into a dangerous and demon-infested forest definitely wasn't a good idea, even if she felt comforted knowing that Itachi had to be nearby…somewhere…hopefully.

A twig snapped to her left making her jump.

Then a rustling in the tree branches…

Dead leaves crunching on the ground behind her…

If she wasn't so frightened, she would've been running by now.

Okay, going off by herself in the forest at night was definitely not one of her brightest moments.

_Oh, goddess…_

Another anonymous cracking noise had her spinning around in its direction, trying to see through the darkness. She began to step backwards ever so slowly, feeling as if she was being hunted…or cornered.

A hand fell on her shoulder and she stumbled out of its touch with a scream.

But, before the scream could fully die off, something grasped around both of her wrists before she was being pulled against a solid (and warm) surface. She only struggled more.

"Enough, Hinata."

The voice halted her movements as if they had freezing powers. Her eyes widened at the figure that was holding her against him, and when she saw familiar red eyes, she relaxed in relief. So relieved and exhausted of her own bout of fear was she that all she ended up doing was collapsing her forehead against the firmness of his chest. _Stupid…_

"What are you doing out here?" he asked, his tone emphasizing irritation.

She kept her face hidden against his chest out of embarrassment. "I was…looking for you…"

He was about to ask why, but thought better of it, and instead asked "How did you get passed the wall?"

She looked up at him. "Gaara helped me."

His brow furrowed, indicating that he had more questions, but he didn't say anything more, and she didn't explain any further.

Itachi glanced around at the shadows of the forest, seeing the various predators lurking in waiting. She would have been such easy prey for the wild animals. He backed away from her and muttered a quick "come" before heading off in a certain direction.

Without hesitation, Hinata followed and made sure to stay close—not enough to touch, just to be protected.

"Where are we going?"

He side-glanced her for a quick second before looking forward again. "You'll see."

And see she did.

She first noticed a light up ahead, a soft glow shining through the trees. As they both moved closer, Hinata realized that the light was constantly flickering and never constant, but still had that soft glow. It was light from a fire. However, where exactly the fire was, she couldn't tell yet. It was like it was hidden or something.

There was a break in the trees, and Hinata found herself standing in a small open area that acted as an entrance to—

_A cave? _Hinata questioned herself, never once expecting to see a cave out in the middle of the forest. As Hinata stared at the mouth of the cave, she watched as Itachi entered ahead of her. She watched from outside as he bent near the fire, feeding it wood and stoking it with a straight face.

Glancing around the small cave, Hinata could see a type of bed and a few other belongings that lined the edges of the walls. _This is where he lives?_

"What are you doing," Itachi spoke suddenly, staring at her with a raised brow.

Her gaze focused back onto him, his lithe body standing next to the fire. The light made his blood-red eyes glow bright amidst the darkness…beckoning to her in a silent way. "Um," Hinata mentally shook herself. "Can I come in?"

His brow stayed raised. "The invitation was already implied."

"Oh," She looked away before edging into the room with hesitancy. She stayed standing a little ways away, uncertain about how to act now that she was in his direct territory, in a place that belonged entirely to him. It was strange and slightly unnerving. She didn't know what to do.

Itachi continued to watch her in silence, taking small amusement in her nervous and unknowing behavior. But then he noticed her slight shivering, and ended up frowning instead. "Sit down." he motioned her to the fire with a strict command.

She obeyed without a word and moved further into the cave before sitting on the ground in front of the fire. Curling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs, she warmed herself by the fire. It was still quiet between them.

Once Itachi was satisfied that she was getting warm, he settled against the wall on the opposite side of the fire as Hinata. Just like Hinata, he would change between looking into the fire and then at her.

The night was so quiet…so serene…

"This is where you live…?" Hinata murmured eventually, her eyes gazing into the flames.

His eyes grazed over her face. "It's a temporary residence."

She smiled slightly. "Do you have a permanent one?"

"Demons never do." he paused. "However, the closest we have to a permanent residence is at the demon headquarters." His eyes found hers and their gazes locked. "Akatsuki."

Hinata stared away to bite onto her lip in thought. The way Itachi made it sound was like he was always traveling, never staying in one place for very long. He probably knew these lands like he would know his own home. He had probably memorized the entire land, never once needing a map. He probably had been everywhere and seen everything.

Hinata felt envious. She was envious of the freedom that he could grasp so easily, and the ability to see the world as it really was, rather than just hearing about it or seeing drawings. She couldn't help but want that for herself.

"What's it like?" She asked in a quiet murmur. Meeting his gaze, she elaborated with sincere intrigue. "Always being in a different place…seeing the changes in the land…being able to experience all of that…?"

"They don't let you leave the village?" he asked instead.

Hinata shook her head. "Only for missions. And even then, the furthest I've ever been is when we went to get herbs. Other times, the only places we travel is to Ame or Suna…And we always stay on the main roads."

It was silent for a moment before Itachi began to speak. "Northwest of here is a place called Iwa,"

Hinata looked at him with surprise, but remained silent.

"It's surrounded by mountains. The whole area consists of mountainous terrain."

"Is it all rock?" she asked meekly.

"No. There's as much forestry there as there is in this land."

She began to smile. "Is it hot there?"

"Only in the valleys. The higher the altitude, the colder."

"Oh…"

He noticed the way she smiled with a childlike wonder, and it made him want to continue. "West of here is the island Kiri. Surrounded by water, the entire island is hidden in mist. It's prone to frequent storms and is the home to all types of water demons. Humans have never set foot there."

Even so, Hinata wanted to go. An entire island enveloped in mist? Surely, that would be a sight to see. But, knowing that she, like every other human, would never be able to go there, she locked away the thought and instead thought of something else. "Where's Akatsuki?"

"Far north from here, in the farthest end of Kumo." he answered, curious as to why she wanted to know. Although, he assumed that she would've already known where it was. Most humans knew where the demon headquarters was; they knew so that they could avoid going there.

"The land of Kumo…" she murmured to herself before another question entered her mind. "What's it like there?"

"It's cold—too cold for humans in winter. It rains for the most part."

"Is there a lot of snow?"

"During fall and winter, it never stops snowing. Southern Kumo has better weather." he added as if what he was saying was trivial at best.

Hinata leaned her head on her arms, still smiling and still gazing at Itachi from across the fire. "It must be beautiful there…" she lost her focus within the wild flames of fire. "I wish I could see it…and all the other places…"

Itachi's eyes narrowed. "Would you forsake your home to fulfill that opportunity?"

As Hinata looked away in thought, she honestly wasn't sure what she would do. She supposed that if she ever wanted to travel like that, then she _would _have to forsake her home…but, that would mean forsaking her temple family, too. Never seeing her friends again…or, at least for a long time…Could she do that? "I don't know…" She answered honestly.

Itachi grunted, dismissing his inner disappointment. As another silence began to take over, he stood up straight and gazed out into the darkness outside the cave. With that, he began to ask what he had wanted to ask earlier. Not to mention, it was sort of a way to change the subject. "You could've just waited for me to come get you at the normal time."

Taking a moment to understand his meaning, Hinata lowered her gaze silently. "I know…but…I think that we should start training earlier in the night." She bit onto her lip while looking up at him, awaiting his reaction. "If that's okay with you, I mean."

He just stared at her with inner puzzlement. Earlier? Why earlier? Not that he had any issue with it, but…what was her reasoning for it? As Itachi thought more on it, he eventually realized that perhaps…she wanted to do it earlier because… "You're losing sleep."

Admittedly embarrassed, Hinata nodded. "But if it doesn't work for you, then it's fine…"

"It'll work." he muttered shortly before facing the darkness more fully. "If you want to sleep tonight, then we need to begin now." he turned back to her expectantly. "Come."

* * *

Itachi caught another one of her punches, but the contact barely remained for a second before Hinata pulled away to execute another part of the technique. Itachi was once again acting as her opponent, testing how much progress she had made since the previous night. She had already told him about practicing with her teacher, and Itachi was finally not necessarily unsatisfied with the results. Hinata made progress, true, but…He had to remind himself that she was human and humans did not progress as quickly as demons. It was frustrating, but true. And it certainly wasn't anything he couldn't handle.

"Your speed should be twice what it is now." he commented mid-spar.

Hinata was breathing heavily and her cheeks were pink from the exercise. Throwing a punch, followed by a ground-swiping kick, Hinata replied eventually. "I'm afraid that I'll…mess up if I go any faster…"

Itachi frowned while realizing that it would be easier for her to perfect the technique with her current speed before going any faster. He supposed that he would just have to force her to her limit if she wanted to stay at her current speed. "Then put more strength into it."

She nodded while twisting her body and helping it flow into each stage of the technique. It was only her second day of training and she was already dissatisfied with her results. She wanted to be so much better than this, but she knew her body and its limits, and she most definitely knew when her body wouldn't be able to handle something. That was why she knew that she couldn't go any faster, because then the whole technique would fall apart.

However, she wanted to impress Itachi, and if he wanted more strength and speed, then she would just have to try it and find out how well she'd do.

Itachi could tell what she was planning on doing the moment her eyes narrowed in determination. He could tell all of that before her fist came at him with twice the speed and strength, and her kick coming at him just milliseconds after her hand left his own. It was pleasing to see that she had that type of strength and speed in her, but…she was right. The technique was becoming sloppy and her movements were becoming shaky and uncoordinated. She probably knew it, too, but she continued, probably wanting to test out her own limits.

So, Itachi let her continue, while keeping his eye on the places that needed work and extra focus. She wasn't terribly off; her movements just needed some smoothing over. Those were his thoughts up until one of her punches missed him completely. "Stop."

At his command, she halted her movements, taking advantage of the time to catch her breath. She didn't even need to ask—she already knew that she messed up that last part. "Do you want me to redo it?"

One look from him supplied the affirmative.

"Is it my arm?" she asked, getting back into position. "What part did I mess up on?"

"Your torso. Twist more to the left and follow through."

She nodded in understanding and started again. She stopped where she had failed before and then looked at him in question. "Like that?"

_No_. She would need more direct guidance apparently. He chose not to think about how that didn't bother him. Without hesitation, he walked behind her, his chest to her back, and placed his right arm over hers and his left hand against her stomach. It should've been expected that he would notice her tense at the contact, but it had become natural instead to notice the way that she reacted to his touch. He had come to find that it wasn't repulsion that made her tense—just surprise and perhaps something else.

Whatever the case may be, he focused on being the teacher rather than…whatever he was to her. When she was comfortable in his arms, he leaned his mouth down against her ear to whisper, "Like this." Then, he slowly led her through it, giving her time to see where she had gone wrong, and then redoing it so that she could memorize it not only with her mind but with her body as well.

They did it again and once more with feeling, his mouth all the while against her ear, his eyes half-lidded and focused on her face, his touch gentle and commanding…their bodies exchanging heat, their minds more focused on each other than the technique, their hearts thrumming with vital energy, and their movements synchronized though they didn't notice.

Before they knew it, they had reached the end of the technique, but they remained frozen in their positions—their breathing being the only sound in the night air. Hinata silently turned to look at him, their faces barely an inch apart. Their eyes each met the other's unreadable expression, both wordlessly saying something and holding it back at the same time.

Itachi's demon blood called to him, urging him, telling him to take her, possess her, make her belong to him—_she _was _his_!

For just a second, they came nearer to each other, their eyes glazing over; Itachi noticed her gulp in either anxiety or anticipation. Anticipation of what, though? Was it really her anticipation or his? Was it both? What was happening? What were they just doing? What was _he _doing?

And just like that, he stepped away, and that strange gaze-lock they were in had disappeared as they both turned to look in different directions. It was still silent, too.

While Itachi was internally chastising himself, Hinata stared off in a daze, wondering to herself what just happened and why she suddenly felt dejected.

Feeling slightly shaken, Hinata finally glanced over at him, looking shy under her lashes. "Itachi…?" _Are you mad at me? Did I do something?_

He turned to look at her, and how could he not? He could never refuse her, and no, he will never admit it…not even to himself. As he looked at her, he was surprised that her expression didn't bear the emotions he would assume of her. Rather than distancing herself from him, she actually seemed like she had just been reprimanded. _What is she thinking?_

Thinking that the best way to deal with the current situation was to go back to what was safe, she began to ask about continuing her training. "Should I…um…"

He was listening, and as he listened, it wasn't just her voice that he was hearing. His eyes narrowed as he focused on the distant sounds.

"Do I need to—"

"Quiet." he demanded in a fierce undertone, his head turned to the side, his remarkable hearing like an open beacon for all the sounds of the forest. Voices. He definitely heard voices, and a quick inhale of the air provided him with the knowledge that humans were coming their way—two of them. In normal circumstances, Itachi would wait for the intruders to arrive and then destroy them at first sight.

However, Hinata was there…and destroying some of her own race would definitely not be something she would appreciate.

He didn't notice her silent fear, or the way she looked around frantically as if something vicious was coming to get her. Instead, thinking quickly, he ran to her, threw her into his embrace, and with the same speed and agility, he ran toward a highly dense edge of the clearing. Surrounded by bushes thick with foliage, the two were perfectly hidden and out of the clearing. Kneeling on the ground, Itachi crouched and stared through the bushes like a predator in waiting. Hinata was crouched as well, except her positioning was directly behind her demon, her hands clenching tightly onto the back of his cloak.

He didn't even turn to look at her when he whispered his demand. "Do not make a sound—don't even move."

Even though he wasn't looking at her, Hinata nodded and gulped, her frightened and nervous eyes focused in the same direction as Itachi's gaze.

They waited…and waited…and waited…

The voices became louder as they got closer to the clearing.

They waited…and then…the two humans, or warriors, appeared.

Repressing a gasp, Hinata's eyes widened instead. She knew one of those warriors. _Master Asuma?_ At first, all she could think about was how impossible this had to be, but then she thought about it again and remembered that Asuma and Kakashi were sent on a mission to scout outside of Konoha and wherever the demon camps might be. The only demon camp she knew of was up north, so why was Asuma this close to Konoha, in the clearing of all places?

"Ryu!" the man next to Asuma shouted into the air. "Ryu! Come 'ere boy!" he whistled loudly before calling out the name again.

Asuma exhaled the smoke from his lungs before speaking. "You're more worried about the dog than your two fellow warriors?"

"Well, Goro and Toshi took Ryu with them, so if we call for Ryu, then he'll hopefully lead us to them…if they're injured or something…or sleeping on the job."

Asuma shook his head. "They've been gone for more than three hours. They were only supposed to be gone for two…at most."

The other man was in contemplation and he seemed to be brooding. "What do you think happened to them?" he muttered when they had reached the middle of the clearing. "You think a demon got 'em?"

Asuma furrowed his brows, his cigarette dangling from his lips. "This close to Konoha…?"

"Too close for demons?"

"Nothing's too close for demons." Asuma murmured in a faraway voice. "They could be ten feet from us if they wanted to be."

"What? No. Are you serious?" the man looked around, clasping his hand around the hilt of his sword.

"Calm down. I was just making a point."

"Oh," he laughed nervously. "Right…" Silence for a moment, and then, "Hey Asuma, we are going in the same direction they went, right?"

"The same direction, yes." Asuma answered. "Although, I don't know the exact path they took. Now that I think about it, I bet they probably went deeper into the forest, which means they took a path somewhere east of here."

From behind the bush and behind her demon, Hinata furrowed her brows. Based on what she heard, it sounded like their teammates were missing and that they had ventured into the forest between the clearing and…

Hinata looked discreetly at Itachi, wondering to herself if he had anything to do with the two warriors going missing. If he did, then they were most assuredly dead. Even though her instincts told her that the theory made sense and was very probable, she didn't want to believe that Itachi was really that much of a cold-blooded killer. _He's not! He's not like other demons. He's not…_

Turning her gaze away to the ground, her hands clenched tighter onto his cloak, and her body instinctually leaned closer into his, the front of her chest laying into his back. As she glanced over at Asuma, she realized that she wasn't just being protected by Itachi, but she was also hiding from Asuma. She didn't want to be found out because she'd get in loads of trouble, but most importantly, she didn't want her demon to be found out. Automatically, she was worried about his safety, but further thought brought her to knowing that if that were to happen, the one who wouldn't be safe would be Asuma. So, perhaps she was really staying hidden not only because Itachi wished it, but for herself, and for her master's safety.

Itachi was momentarily distracted from his spying when he felt Hinata lean closer into him. He didn't move then, and he didn't move when after awhile, she gently rested her head against his shoulder. He carefully glanced out of the corner of his eye only to see that she was just resting against him, eyes half-open and staring dazedly at nothing; it appeared that she was in deep thought, though he did not know about what.

As if sensing his gaze, she faced him without expression and he returned it. Despite their lack of facial casts, there seemed to be an entire conversation being held through their eyes.

"Eh, we might as well check somewhere else." Asuma's partner began. "There's obviously nothing here. Let's go check a couple trails east of here."

Asuma nodded. "Sounds good. Lead the way."

Itachi and Hinata's gazes broke and turned to watch the two warriors begin to leave the clearing. The one man went first with Asuma straggling behind at a leisurely pace until it was only Asuma occupying the clearing, but in another few steps, he wouldn't be.

It was then that Hinata almost ruined her chances of not being found out. She had been sitting perfectly still, the sound of her breathing muted, and Itachi's body practically hiding her from sight. However, they were in the forest, and the forest was littered with animals—mostly large and deadly ones, but there were many smaller animals too. It just so happened that one of those smaller animals—a squirrel from what Hinata noticed—ran passed her, it's bushy tail brushing against her leg and effectively startling her.

Hinata jumped in surprise, causing for the bush to shake and rustle with noise, and her to nearly yelp out loud. Quick as lightning, Itachi turned and caught her unstable body, one hand wrapping around her mouth to silence her yelp of surprise and the other arm holding her figure tightly against his chest to stabilize her as well as protect her from any unseeing force.

Unfortunately, the rustle in the bushes caught Asuma's attention. His head turned in the direction of the sound, and his cigarette was pulled from his mouth to be squashed beneath his foot. From behind his back, he pulled out two blades that wrapped over his hands rather than extending outward. With his weapons at the ready, he stalked steadily toward the origin of the sound.

Hinata's eyes grew wide at seeing him advance toward their hiding place. While she was panicking, Itachi reached one hand to grab his sword while he was preparing to stand up and destroy the intruders like he should've done sooner.

Seeing what Itachi had planned, Hinata speedily grasped onto his arm, trying to pull him back to her and stay hidden. His questioning glare met her frightened wide eyes, her head shaking side-to-side pleadingly.

Asuma came closer and closer to the bush that had rustled suspiciously, all the while keeping his blades close and at the ready for any conflict. When he was within a couple feet of the bush, he lunged forward and tore through the bush, expecting a fight or some type of opponent, but there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Except for a squirrel that jumped out at him and skittered away.

"Stupid animals." Asuma murmured while shaking his head in disappointment. "I should cook you for getting me worked up for nothing." He laughed to himself while pulling out another cigarette. After lighting it and putting away his weapons, he finally left the clearing.

Itachi didn't look at Hinata until he could no longer sense the human's presence. Rather than killing the human as he would've normally done, he agreed to Hinata's pleading and moved them quickly and silently to hide behind a thick tree. With her back against the tree and the front of Itachi's body touching her chest, Hinata kept her focus on her demon while he kept his focus on the meadow. Then, he looked at her.

Her eyes skimmed around his face, memorizing features that hadn't changed in years. Without really thinking about it, she reached her hand up to rest her palm against the side of his face, though her skin was barely touching his own. Too tempting, too hesitant, too uncertain, too afraid.

"Thank you…" she whispered.

"You knew him." he stated, knowing why she really didn't want him to attack.

"Yes." she answered in muted tones. "One of the masters at the temple."

"Why are humans in this area?" he asked in a demanding tone.

She bit her lip. "Did you have anything to do with those two men disappearing?"

"You already know that."

Hinata smiled sadly. "Then…you should know too."

Itachi narrowed his eyes. "They're scouting for the camps."

She didn't reply; at least, not verbally. She only continued to look at him, knowing that he knew exactly what was going on between their races.

Because of that, Itachi continued by saying, "This war will start sooner than any of us expect."

Her eyes found the ground in silence, and the knowledge of what he said made her realize that it was most probably true…and inevitable. Then again, a war between their two races had always been inevitable. It didn't take the mysterious Amaterasu to mention that anymore. Although, it seemed that the only ones aware of the other race's activities were her and Itachi. Perhaps it was a good thing, or perhaps not.

Hinata couldn't help but ask, "Why did you kill them?"

Itachi didn't answer until her eyes found his. "Would you have preferred that I let them get away and alert their entire army of my presence? Though I doubt they could kill me, it would be unwise for me to return here if they knew that it had become a territory of mine."

"I understand, and no, I wouldn't have preferred that." She muttered solemnly. "I guess I just wish that they didn't have to die, knowing that they probably had families…wives, children…" She laughed under her breath, but it lacked humor. "But our races hate each other, so…casualties are expected."

Though she had turned her eyes somewhere else once again, Itachi continued to watch her expression, noting the hidden sadness in her eyes. Sadness…and a tangible feeling of being torn in two. She cared for him—that was obvious—but she also cared for her own race. He could tell that she was inwardly struggling with trying to compromise with her emotions, rather than just picking one side and sticking to it. He could see with almost perfect clarity how she was holding onto her human family and friends, while trying to keep him in her grasp at the same time. She wasn't willing to lose either of her worlds.

It twisted his gut knowing that one day she would have to choose between those two worlds, and it unsettled him at feeling that she would most likely choose her human family over him. It would be the wise thing to do, anyways.

Perhaps…

Perhaps over time…he could convince her to choose his world instead of her human one.

It was what he desired, what he wanted…and Itachi hated not getting what he wanted.

"Itachi?" Hinata asked, seeing that he had been staring at her in an intense daze of thought.

Snapping out of it, he quickly picked her up into his arms. "Training is over for tonight. I'll take you back."

As he did so, he thought about coming up with a plan to have her choose his world.

He would take her home, and then plan.

She would choose his world. She would choose him.

As his demon blood would continually call out to him…

_She _belonged to _him_!

* * *

"_You lean to my side  
tickling my desires._

_Below my clothes_  
_I quiver in infinities._

_Others lean towards us._  
_Do they sense_

_your exhale is my inhale,_  
_your out, my in?_

_We sit motionless_  
_but betray ourselves,_

_glancing around_  
_to see if anyone is looking."_

_- Judith Pordon, "No One Must Know"_

* * *

**Woo! I just cracked the 200,000 word mark! I'm so proud, and yet…realizing once again that this fic is going to be LONG.**

**Yup, definitely not going to be finished by August. It was a nice dream, though. I guess you readers are stuck with me for awhile ;-p**

**Anyway, LOVE to my wonderful reviewers, I will see you guys next chapter!**

**THANK YOU!**

**Tranquilwriter**


	24. Realizations

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XXIII**

**Realizations**

* * *

"_He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore."_

_-Sigmund Freud_

"_Each person's only hope for improving his lot rests on his recognizing the true nature of his basic personality, surrendering to it, and becoming who he is."_

_-Sheldon Kopp_

* * *

She had only been asleep for perhaps half an hour before being awoken.

She was groggy at first, lifting her head above the pillow to hear the sound that woke her, but it was quiet.

As soon as her head laid back down onto the pillow and her eyes closed peacefully, it sounded again, making her eyes open wide in confusion.

Footsteps, quick-moving footsteps was what she was hearing, and it was just outside her door, heading down the hallway. She could hear whispered commands, panic-stricken words. It made her sit up in her bed and stare quizzically at her door.

Cautiously, she moved to get off the bed, pausing when her feet touched the cold floor. It was still so dark—the moonlight barely provided enough light to see. By the time Hinata made it to her bedroom door and cracked it open, the sounds had faded. The corridor was lit by the torches along the walls, which allowed Hinata to see that the corridor was completely empty.

"Hurry!"

The fiercely whispered voice made Hinata jump and nearly close her door, but she ended up cracking it so that a sliver of light streaked over her face instead.

Was that Lee's voice?

"Lee, what's going on?"

Neji, too?

Hinata kept listening, being able to tell when they had passed by her door and kept running.

"Something bad happened. Naruto and Sasuke were fighting and now Naruto is out of control!"

There was a pause as the information seemed to register to Neji, and when it did, all he could muster to say was "Shit."

When their footsteps disappeared around the corner, Hinata exited her bedroom and stared down the corridor in the same direction that the two young men disappeared. From the sounds of it, something bad was happening, and if there was fighting going on, then someone was going to get injured.

Hinata had a sinking feeling in her gut, one that warned of terrible trouble. She bit onto the inside of her cheek and furrowed her brows in fear-ridden concern. All she could think was that she had to go help in some way.

She turned to glance back into her room, debating whether or not to change out of her nightgown into something more presentable, but decided otherwise. There wasn't time for propriety…not if someone was in trouble.

Then, Hinata began to run.

She turned the corner, and stopped when she didn't know where to go next. There was a hallway to her left, one straight ahead, and a stairwell to the roof on her right.

A loud roar sounded in the air, making the hair on her arms stand on end and a shiver run down her spine in raw fear. It came from an upward direction, which meant the roof.

Gulping, Hinata started to ascend the stairs—slowly at first and then quicker and quicker. Breathing heavily in tired strain, she reached the door to the roof and pushed it open hurriedly. What she found on that rooftop was like nothing she ever imagined.

As soon as the night air hit her face and pushed through her hair and nightgown, her eyes opened wide at the sight of Naruto, or at least, she thought it was Naruto.

He was crouched on all fours, his entire body glowing a furious red. His fingernails had lengthened into claws that tore through the cement rooftop beneath him. His once normal teeth had turned into razor-like fangs, and he bared them at his opponent, releasing a constant raw growl from his throat. His normally bright blue eyes had turned into an animalistic red, and the way that the red glow moved about his body made it seem as though he was growing tails of some sort.

Just looking at him made Hinata's heart race in fear, her instincts guiding her body back towards the stairwell, her mind shouting at her to run, and the blood diamond necklace rolling heat into her chest as a warning. Her hands fell against the sides of the doorway, her mind urging her body to turn and run, and yet her eyes stayed rooted to Naruto's dark form.

"Hinata!" Arms wrapped around her shoulders, and hands forced her face to look at whoever was holding her. "Hinata, what the hell are you doing out here?"

Her wide, fearful eyes found his and she could feel her bottom lip trembling. "N-N-Neji,"

"You need to get back inside—now!" he shouted, ignoring whatever she was trying to say, but he sure as hell wasn't ignoring the fear that rolled off her body in shaking waves.

"Is that really Naruto?" She asked with scared doubt lingering in her tone.

Neji once again forced her to look into his eyes, his fingers gripping onto her jaw painfully tight. "Run back to your room and close the door. It's not safe for you here."

As she looked over Neji's shoulder, she could see snake-like tendrils of sand whipping at Naruto, trying to grasp onto his wild limbs to control the heated rage. Tracing her eyes from the sand to its source, she saw Gaara, who was slightly hunched and facing Naruto, his eyes a fearsome gold, and his arms held out in struggle to control his ability as well as his friend.

While this was going on, Hinata could see Sasuke kneeling on the ground a little ways off, watching the entire battle while holding onto his upper arm that was drenched in blood. Numerous other cuts littered his body and his eyes glowed a familiar red. Nothing but their eyes bespoke more of the half-demon blood that they contained.

She could also see Jiraiya and Tsunade, each positioned at different ends, their eyes focused and determined on finding a way to put a stop to Naruto's rampage. Gai was not too far from the matriarch, his grip holding restrictively to Lee's arm, holding him back from interfering in a dangerous matter. Shikamaru, Choji, and Kankuro were missing, but Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru were there—though all they could do was stand back and watch helplessly, wanting to help but knowing that they could get killed if they tried. Of all the deities, it seemed that only Hinata had come; how the others did not awaken from the sounds, she didn't know.

Either way, it was chaos.

Suddenly, with a powerful swipe of his arm, Naruto sent Gaara flying back, the sand exploding between them and a barrier of sand protecting the redhead from falling off the roof.

Hinata's hands clenched onto Neji's arms as if to push him out of the way. "Gaara!" Neji continued to hold her back, hiding her with his body, his back turning towards the fight.

Then, with a flash of speed, Sasuke entered the fight, disappearing and reappearing around Naruto, blocking his attacks and delivering some of his own, though it seemed useless.

Naruto pounced forward, his claws slicing across Sasuke's chest, and before the Uchiha had time to grunt in pain, a clawed hand wrapped around his throat and flung him across the rooftop, causing him to crash into the graveled turf.

Hinata could hear Akamaru switch between an aggressive bark and growl to a frightened whine. She could hear the patriarch and matriarch shout towards Naruto to stop and wake up and to come back to them. She could see Gaara slowly stand back up and speak to his possessed friend, saying "Don't let it control you, Naruto. Don't let the demon win."

Naruto only thrashed around and yelled furiously into the night, his head shaking side-to-side in an obvious inner struggle. The sand at once began to charge toward Naruto, trying to coil around his body. In the blink of an eye, Sasuke was there again, trying to fight the blonde off as well as distract him enough for Gaara to do something.

It was then that Hinata noticed that Sasuke wasn't the only one injured. Naruto himself had blood staining his red-glowing skin, originating from multiple deep wounds. Gaara appeared unscathed, but Gai and Jiraiya had enough cuts on them to prove that they tried to control Naruto and get him to calm down.

It was a hopeless situation and nothing seemed to be helping. There was so much blood.

"They're injured…" Hinata whimpered, struggling to get passed Neji so that she could heal the members of her temple family.

"Stop it, Hinata. You need to get out of here!" Neji would yell at her, the panic making his voice tremble.

"They're hurt—I have to help!"

"If you even try, _you're _going to be the one who's hurt—now leave!" At her continued struggles, he was about ready to just pick her up and forcefully remove her from the dangerous rooftop that had suddenly become a battleground.

Another roar from Naruto, and he extended his body outward, the force from his own power making Gaara and Sasuke fly back again, barely managing to keep from falling over the side of the temple.

"Gaara!" Hinata shouted again, her worry over her friend overshadowing every reasonable and rational part of herself.

Naruto's ears perked at the scream and his killer-like attention shot straight to where Neji was holding Hinata. With a simple change of direction, his killer intent sent him running towards the two on all fours.

Seeing what was happening, Tsunade yelled in panic. "Neji! Look out!"

Neji turned to look behind him swiftly, his eyes widening at the sight of the oncoming Naruto.

Skidding on his hands and feet, Naruto reached them in less than a second, his claws digging into Neji's back and flinging him to the side as if he weighed nothing. Hinata stumbled from the impact and landed on her behind, but she quickly turned over, beginning in a crawl and then changing into a run to get away from whatever monster her blonde friend had become.

Like the way a cat's blood heats and boils with predatory instinct upon catching sight of a terrified mouse, so did Naruto's blood boil with pleasure at the excitement of catching his running prey. He immediately began to charge towards her.

Adrenaline pumping through her veins, Hinata ran towards the edge of the roof, her feet finding difficulty getting traction from the unstable gravel. Unsurprisingly, the gravel gave way beneath her and she found herself sprawled on the ground, her wide terrified eyes staring up at Naruto, while she used her hands and legs to push herself away as far as possible. She was whimpering in fear, and no other sound could escape her, and all she could think about was how she was going to die.

"Hinata!" Neji yelled, forcing his body to stand and start running towards her. He had to protect her! He couldn't fail her this time!

Gaara's golden eyes flared in identical panic as he struggled to control his sand to do his bidding and protect the dark-haired deity.

However, just as Naruto was seconds from thrashing Hinata, the dark figure that appeared between them was actually Sasuke. His back faced her in a protective nature and his hands moved to grasp onto Naruto's neck to hold him still. Although Hinata couldn't see it, Sasuke's eyes had developed three dark markings that started to spin rapidly. Even though Naruto's claws were cutting into Sasuke's skin the way a lion chews and tears into its meal, the blonde's furious red eyes couldn't look away from Sasuke's own red eyes. So hypnotizing were the spinning black markings that Naruto slowly stopped struggling and eventually fell to the ground limp and unconscious. The red glow had faded and Naruto looked back to normal.

Seconds afterward, Sasuke grunted as his lifeblood streamed down his body, and then he too crumpled to the ground in a state of unconsciousness.

For the moment, Hinata was so completely in shock that all she could do was sit and shake violently, her trembling hand covering her mouth, and every instinct telling her that she should be crying at the moment.

Luckily, the moment passed as soon as Hinata really took notice of the pool of blood that surrounded the two friends. She shakily, but quickly, crawled over the gravel until she was right between the two half-demons. Still terrified and still in shock, she placed one hand on Naruto and the other on Sasuke, trying to heal them as much as she could. Before she could realize it, everyone who had been on that rooftop had ran over to them with hurried stress.

Hinata wasn't quite sure what happened next, since it seemed that it happened in a blur. While she was indeed awake, every detail was blurred from the point that she was attacked to the point where she was standing in a room in the medical ward. Somehow, Tsunade had managed to move all the injured persons down to the medical ward and placed them in beds, ordering Shizune to stabilize them. The room that Hinata was in was housing Naruto, who was laying on the bed ahead of her with Shizune and a few others scrambling around him in an effort to fix his wounds.

The dark-haired doctor turned to Hinata urgently. "Hinata, start healing!"

Blocking out the previous occurrence, Hinata entered into work-mode and ran over to the bedside to start healing Naruto's cuts. There were so many, too. As soon as one hand had finished healing a cut, it would move onto another, just as her other hand was.

Tsunade barged into the room. "Sasuke's in the other room and he needs attention badly."

Shizune nodded and not the least bit calmly. "I'll get there as soon as I can!"

"It can't wait—he's bleeding to death!"

Shizune was breathing heavily and glanced around in panic before landing her attention on Hinata. "I'll take care of Naruto—go help Sasuke."

Hinata nodded and let Tsunade lead her out of the room at a runner's pace, not stopping until they had entered Sasuke's sick room, where the white sheets that lay beneath him had already turned a bloody-red color. Without hesitation, Hinata ran over to his bedside and began to scout for the deadliest wound. "We need to remove his clothing," she ordered to whoever was nearby. Tsunade was there in a second, ripping off whatever was left of his shredded clothes.

While the matriarch was taking care of that, Hinata focused on his chest wound, where it was the deepest and deadliest. Both of her hands hovered over it and speedily began to force the wound to heal. As it was closing, Sasuke arched upward, his eyes closed and his face tightening into a grimace of pain. Tsunade held him down, doing whatever it took to make it easier for Hinata to heal him.

Hinata's limbs began to quiver with the strain of healing such a deep wound, but she pressed on, barely pausing when the deepest and most severe wound was finally healed. Taking a deep breath, she skimmed over the rest of his body, placing her hands on every cut and bruise. With every one she healed, Tsunade would take a cloth and drench it with warm, soapy water in order to clean away the blood that was still caked onto his pale skin.

"How are we doing, Hinata?" Tsunade spoke, breaking the tense silence.

"Almost done." she murmured in return, keeping her gaze focused on Sasuke's torn body. "He's lost a lot of blood, Lady Tsunade."

The matriarch nodded, occasionally looking at Hinata's work and her own at different intervals. She almost couldn't tell because of the blood smears, but Hinata really was almost done. A couple more cuts and then her work would be finished.

"What happened?" Hinata asked in a muted tone.

Tsunade stopped for a moment before continuing her work, all the while thinking about how the hell she was supposed to explain to Hinata about those three boys being half-demons.

Hinata bit her lip as she turned to start healing another wound. "Did the half-demon part of Naruto just…get out of control?"

Tsunade really did stop that time, her widely shocked eyes facing Hinata. She was speechless.

Noticing that her matriarch was gawking at her, Hinata briefly paused to stare at the older woman shyly.

Finally, Tsunade laughed without humor before returning to looking at the blood that had stained the washcloth. "You knew?" her stern eyes found Hinata's again. "About Naruto being a half-demon?"

Slowly, Hinata nodded. "Gaara told me…about him being a half-demon first, and then I found out about Naruto and Sasuke."

The blonde's brows furrowed in puzzlement. "How long have you known?"

Hinata shrugged innocently, beginning the healing process on the last wound. "About ten years…"

"Ten years?" Tsunade nearly shrieked. "Do the other deities know, too? I mean, besides Temari?"

"Mmm," Hinata thought about it seriously. "As far as I know, only Temari and I know about…them. I don't think the other girls know."

Tsunade nodded, seemingly relieved.

"How long has Neji known?" Hinata thought to ask, now knowing that Neji was just as aware as she was. "And the other guys?"

Tsunade smiled. "Not as long as you, but long enough."

Hinata nodded, and now that she was finished healing his wounds, she began to help Tsunade by cleaning his body from the fresh and dried blood.

Remembering Hinata's previous question, Tsunade began to speak again. "From what I know, Naruto and Sasuke were taking their shift. They got in an argument, and I suppose that Sasuke must have said something that really pissed off Naruto, cause Naruto just…snapped."

"Does that happen often?"

"No…" Tsunade smiled sadly. "Naruto's usually very much in control of that part of himself…as are the other boys."

It was silent once again as the two women finished up cleaning the Uchiha's body. When all was said and done, Sasuke was clean and healed, but very pale from the large amount of blood loss.

"Well," Tsunade stepped back, wiping her hand across her brow. "Let's go check on Naruto, shall we?"

Entering into Naruto's room was difficult, considering all the people that were cramped inside of it. Luckily, Tsunade was "scary" enough to make a trail through the people, not stopping until she was next to Shizune, who was still fast at work. "Shizune, Sasuke's all healed, so I need you to go check up on him and make sure everything's alright. I'll stay here and have Hinata finish up the healing. Once you're done with Sasuke, come back here, got it?"

"Yes, ma'am!" With that, Shizune practically ran out of the room.

Nodding to herself in satisfaction, Tsunade scanned the small crowd for a head of dark hair. "Hinata, come up here!"

"Yes, Lady Tsunade." Hinata muttered quietly before finally appearing next to the matriarch, her eyes showing that she was ready for her orders.

"Why don't you heal up Naruto and anyone else here who needs it, okay? I need to shuffle the healthy ones out of here and back to bed."

"Yes, ma'am."

"You get to work. I'll be back shortly to check up on you."

"Yes, ma'am."

As Hinata turned to look down at Naruto's bare chest, she was shocked to see that his cuts really weren't as bad as they appeared during the battle. Either Shizune was a miracle worker, or Naruto was a fast-healer. Whatever the case, Hinata went to work healing every cut and bruise, no matter how minor.

By the time she finished with him, the only ones left in the room were Jiraiya, Gai, and Neji. Gai came up to her first, giving her a proud slap on the back and a blinding smile of pride. "Well done, Hinata!"

"May I see your arm, Master Gai?" Hinata asked, taking his arm into her hold before quickly healing the cuts found there. With the quickest movements she possessed, she searched out every injury that the boisterous man had and healed them.

"Well, thanks, Hinata!" he laughed loudly before Jiraiya sent him out of the room.

"Lord Jiraiya?" Hinata smiled as he approached her.

He smiled back and motioned to his forearm. "It's just this one."

Even though it was only one cut, Hinata winced at seeing how deep it was, and if she didn't act quickly, she knew that it would get infected. Placing one hand at the start of the cut, she began to slowly move towards the end, her healing energy stitching the skin together.

While she was doing this, Jiraiya stared down at her seriously. "Has Tsunade talked to you about all of this yet?"

"Yes,"

"Oh," he nodded. "And, uh…"

Hinata met his gaze with an understanding smile. "It's alright."

"Oh, good." he continued to nod, looking elsewhere. "Good." When he looked down again, his cut was healed and Hinata was looking at him with that same smile. "Well, you're sure handy to have around." he laughed before his gaze settled onto the unconscious Naruto. "Keep an eye on him, okay?"

"Yes, sir."

Nodding once again, he left the room, leaving the unconscious Naruto in bed and Hinata and Neji standing in front of each other. When it was practically just them, Neji smiled tiredly as he came nearer to Hinata. "What did he mean about Lady Tsunade talking to you?"

"Oh," she smiled while reaching her hand up to graze her fingertip over a scrape on his cheek. "Lady Tsunade talked to me about what happened up there, and…about Naruto being a half-demon."

Just as Tsunade had done, Neji looked at her with a wide-eyed expression of surprise. "You know?"

"I already knew." she muttered quietly. "Gaara told me awhile ago…about him and Naruto and Sasuke."

"How long ago is 'awhile ago'?"

She pursed her lips as she moved onto his shoulder, which was badly bruised with various scrapes and scratches. So much so that it ripped through his shirt. "Ten years…" she mumbled.

"You're kidding." he replied in disbelief before seriously thinking about it, and then it started to make sense. Perhaps not with Sasuke and Naruto, but with Gaara, yes. That at least explained why she and Gaara had always seemed close friends; she had been keeping his secret, and in some way, he had been relying on her. It definitely made sense, but it didn't take away the sting in his chest he felt at knowing it.

"Neji?"

"Hm?"

"Do you have any other injuries?"

He awoke from his stupor only to see that he was all healed. Hinata truly did amazing work. "No, that's it." he replied, testing out his limbs for any leftover pain.

"Okay…"

"Well, I better go before Lady Tsunade gets back. As long as we're healthy, it's off to bed." he spoke laughingly.

She smiled. "I'll probably be a little bit longer."

"I think the matriarch is going to give us tomorrow off, so you should be able to get enough rest." Not being able to help himself, his hand reached over to brush a finger against her cheek, pushing loose hairs behind her ears. Then his fingers would linger in her hair, entranced by the silky black strands. "You haven't forgotten, have you?"

"Forgotten?" she asked, unsure.

"About me waiting."

As his fingers trailed down her neck, she remembered what he was talking about.

"_**If you give me time to consider it and try to figure out my feelings, then I can give you a proper answer."**_

"_**Just don't make me wait too long."**_

"I won't forget." she whispered.

The corner of his mouth tilted upward as he inched closer and kissed her forehead, and lingered for just a moment.

The door opened and Tsunade and Shizune peeked through, each woman staring at the couple with raised brows and teasing smiles. Tsunade stepped through, her arms crossing underneath her bust. "Are you all healed, Neji?"

Hinata jumped away from her guardian with a blush, and Neji merely turned around with a raised brow, showing clearly how he was _not _amused. "Yes, Lady Tsunade."

"Good." she smiled, but it quickly diminished. "Then go to bed. Hinata has work to do, so stop distracting her."

"More work?" he questioned skeptically. "She needs rest as well, so what more is there to do?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised. And don't worry about her; Shizune and I can take care of her just fine." She answered him, but rose her brow with expectation.

Knowing that he would not win the battle, he bowed his head momentarily before looking back at Hinata. "Tomorrow?"

She smiled and nodded with a promise. "Tomorrow."

Temporarily satisfied, Neji left the room, heading for his bedroom.

When it was just the three women and the still unconscious Naruto, Tsunade inhaled before speaking. "So…Shizune, why don't you check on Naruto and make sure he's stabilized and on his way to recovery. Hinata, in case you didn't already know, I decided to cancel training and work at the pavilion tomorrow. After tonight's events, I'm sure you guys could use the rest—especially you."

"Yes, thank you."

"On that note, I have a favor to ask."

Shizune stood straight and stared over at Tsunade. "Lady Tsunade, he'll be fine."

"Good. Shizune, I want you to keep an eye on him overnight. Hinata, the favor I have to ask of you is that you stay with Sasuke overnight and keep an eye on him."

"Oh…" She was surprised, and honestly, it wasn't something that she wanted to do.

"Is that alright with you?"

"Mmm," She smiled eventually. "Yes, of course, Lady Tsunade."

"Great," She smiled and headed for the door. "Now, if you'll excuse me ladies, I have a damaged roof to attend to."

* * *

Sasuke felt awake, even though he was currently keeping his eyes closed. He began to systematically check the movements in each of his limbs, and only then did he inch his eyelids open. What he saw was nothing but white—white ceiling, white walls, and when he looked down at himself, he saw the white bedding.

As his mind began to awaken more thoroughly, he tried to remember how he had gotten to be in the white room, or what had happened before that.

He remembered taking a shift with Naruto on the rooftop, as per usual. He remembered them getting into a typical argument, except it gradually became more heated so that when Naruto insulted him about his origins, Sasuke did the same and brought his annoying girlfriend into the mixture. He wasn't sure, but Sasuke had a feeling that bringing Ino into the insult might have been what tipped the scale of Naruto's control. One moment Naruto was looking pissed, and then the next moment, he was looking demonic. Sasuke recognized Naruto losing control immediately, and he knew that it wasn't going to be good.

He remembered activating his own demon blood to fight him off, and then Gaara showed up and did the same. Somewhere during the whole mess, the matriarch and patriarch showed up with Gai. The two men tried to get Naruto to come to his senses, but they were both quickly knocked back...literally.

Shino and Kiba and his dog showed up, but neither were allowed to intervene per Tsunade's orders.

He remembered the vicious fighting between him and Naruto, while it was Gaara's job to bind the monster that Naruto had become. Somewhere during that time, Lee and Neji had shown up too, and once again, neither of them were able to do anything but watch.

Sasuke remembered getting thrown around by Naruto's demonic strength, and he remembered how Naruto's sharpened claws had swiped his arm, making blood fall from his wounds like ribbons.

It was while he was kneeling on the ground, holding his injured arm, that another person had entered the mayhem, and with a quick side-glance, he was shocked to see Hinata there. That was the last place she needed to be. What was wrong with her? Did she want to get killed?

Then she cried out for Gaara, reverting his attention back to the battle.

He entered the fight once again, and it continued for what seemed like forever. And then, Naruto pushed them back and Hinata cried out for Gaara once again. Only this time, it would have proved her demise because it attracted Naruto's attention to her.

In the blink of an eye, Hinata was unguarded and being stalked by the predator that was Naruto. Seeing her about to get mutilated made his eyes widen in panic and his chest clench with an unfamiliar feeling. All he could think was "No!".

Before Gaara and before Neji could reach her, he had moved quick as lightning until he was standing between her and her would-be killer. He remembered feeling his blood heat until it was boiling with rage beneath his skin, his power peaking and strengthening his body. He remembered feeling a build-up of pure energy in his eyes, powering them enough to make Naruto look at him. Wielding that power, he commanded sternly, _Make him sleep_…and it worked.

Of course, once Naruto was no longer a threat, Sasuke felt every last ounce of energy leave his body, and he, too, passed out, knowingly satisfied that Hinata was safe.

Returning to the present, Sasuke also remembered the deep gash that his "best friend" had delivered to his chest. Expecting pain, he was shocked to find that he actually felt normal. Sitting up, he stared down at his chest with furrowed brows, expecting to at least see bandages, but his chest was clean of wounds—there wasn't even blood. He touched his hand to the used-to-be wound as if making sure that it was real.

How the hell was he able to heal that fast from a wound like that? That should have been impossible, even for him.

As he was contemplating the matter, he happened to look up and notice that he wasn't alone in the white room. There was a short couch against the wall on his right, and sitting on that couch was Hinata. She was curled up in one corner of the couch, knees to her chest and arms splayed over her legs, and she was definitely asleep. No one else was waiting in the room except her, which made him wonder why she was there and for how long she had been waiting for him. More importantly, why her and why him? Who put this arrangement together? Did she volunteer to do it, or was she simply ordered, since there probably wasn't anyone else who was willing.

He looked away, turning his attention to his hands instead. He watched passively as he clenched and unclenched his hands, feeling the ease of movement and the absence of pain. By the goddess, he felt…good. He felt healed, rested, and energized. _It's been awhile since I felt this good._ His eyes trailed over to the sleeping deity once again, knowing beyond a reasonable doubt, that his healthy state was because of her. She was the only healer in the village, probably in the entire world, and she had healed him—he knew it.

_She's better than I gave her credit for. _

What bothered him, however, was the fact that she was sleeping. Not just that, though, but the reasons behind her restful state. He knew that with the amount of his wounds and the severity of them, it must have taken quite a lot out of her to heal them so completely. Also…it was apparent that she had been given a duty, perhaps, to guard him overnight. _That's quite an energy toll. No wonder she's asleep._

He couldn't manage to look away from her and the way that she was so tightly curled into a ball of protection and warmth. Or the way that strands of her dark hair would fall over her face, because of the fact that her head was resting at an angle that would probably cause for a very sore and painful crick in her neck whenever she awoke.

"Idiot…" He found himself muttering after a brief roll of the eyes.

An unnatural idea (for him) fluttered through his mind, but he hesitated on putting action to it. He grunted and pushed away his covers, feeling relief at seeing that he was at least wearing pants. But then he hesitated again, questioning his motives, and reprimanding the pathetic urges that made his heart throb.

Another deep breath and his feet touched the floor, a part of his mind testing out the usage of his limbs. What a surprise—he felt perfectly well.

That made him step forward with silent steps, and he didn't stop until he was an inch away from the couch.

More hesitation and a brief look away only rewarded him by causing for his eyes to find her form again and his body to bend down, one hand gliding under her knees and the other diving through her tresses to locate her neck.

With agitated slowness and frequent looks to make sure that she was still asleep, Sasuke gradually manipulated her body into stretching out onto the couch, feet at one end, head at the other. Once her legs were settled, both of his hands moved towards her upper body, one still behind her neck, and the other behind her back.

_Shit_. He inhaled deeply, feeling as if he might be sweating from the strain, but what strain? Why would he be feeling strain? _What the hell? Why am I tired all of a sudden?_

His hands fell back to his sides as soon as she looked comfortable, and almost immediately, he felt better. He didn't know what to think about that, so…he experimented.

He kneeled down so that his face was level with hers, a few layers of air separating them. And ever so slowly, his hand moved forward, a part of him measuring the drain on his energy as he moved closer, and the other part of him aiming to touch her hair. Finally, he could feel the strands of her hair against his fingertips, and in that moment, his eyes glazed over in a trance. The last time he felt hair such as hers was when his mother was alive and she would let him hold onto it when he was going to sleep. Keeping that in mind, he dazedly watched his own fingers trail down her hair, weaving through the tresses until his touch rested on her collarbone. Yet another soft part of Hinata that lay underneath his touch.

The feel of him must have tickled her senses, because she began to move until she was laying on her side, hand under her head. At that, Sasuke moved back, removing his hand from her skin, watching her closely to make sure she was still asleep. Once that was confirmed, he returned his attention to where he left off and that was when he caught sight of the necklace she was wearing and the pendant that had slipped from its hiding place beneath her clothes. It was now resting just above her breasts, and when Sasuke's eyes met with its glowing blood color, his heart hammered in his chest. His eyes widened with remembrance.

_**There was such pain in his wrist from his brother piercing the skin and drawing blood, effectively leaving a mark of death. With half-lidded eyes, a young Sasuke saw the Uchiha pendant fall back against Itachi's chest, the blood within glowing with a promised threat. A diamond of blood—the Uchiha signature. **_

_**Equally blood-red eyes peering into his own with another promise of death. **_

"_**That mark signifies that you are mine to kill…"**_

"_**Half-demons were never supposed to exist."**_

_**Then darkness…**_

Hinata's eyes fluttered open and the first thing she saw was Sasuke's face. She was close to jumping back in surprise, but the raging emotions in his eyes kept her in place, while fear rippled up her spine. He wasn't looking at her, though. A quick glance down, and even more fear pooled inside of her at realizing that he was looking at her pendant that was supposed to be hidden.

Her eyes slowly moved to look back at him with a gulp, and there he was, eyeing her in return, but his gaze was meant to kill, as was made obvious by his dark red eyes.

"Sasuke—"

"Where…" he hissed with venom. "Did you get this?"

She tried to think of something to say—anything would've worked! But all she ended up doing was frantically opening and closing her mouth, releasing the sounds of the beginnings of different words.

Sasuke watched with predatory instinct at the way that she backed herself up against the couch, not stopping even when there was no more room to back up. It was as if she was trying to get the couch to swallow her, but of course, it wasn't working. All Sasuke had to do was move closer.

Despite the raging waves of anger that coursed through his veins, and despite how his tone reflected that, the way he spoke and the way he moved emanated pure calm…just like a predator. "Hinata," his hand clenched onto her trembling jaw. "Where did you get it?"

Her mouth opened to speak and her mind whirled with the possible things she could say. "I…I found it."

An impatient fire blared in his eyes while his hands moved to grip onto her upper arms and one of his knees moved to rest next to her thigh, an effective way of making her feel trapped and caged.

She pressed herself further into the couch, and he followed, their noses close to touching. "Do you have any idea what it is you're wearing?" he murmured with that same threatening tone, even though it was as quiet as a whisper. "Only a _demon_ would wear something like that. In fact, that pendant is only allowed to be worn by Uchiha demons. You're not a demon and you're not of the Uchiha clan, so I'm going to ask you again. Where did you get this?"

She gulped again, her eyes already widened in panic and fear. "I found it."

"Don't lie to me!" he shouted, pressing her arms tighter, causing for her to wince. "Did _he _give it to you? Was it him? Tell me!"

_You know nothing, Hinata_. She kept trying to tell herself. _Keep Itachi secret. No one must know. _"I don't know what you're talking about—"

"Yes, you do! Him, Itachi—did that fucking bastard give this to you?"

"Sasuke," she whimpered pleadingly. "Please…"

For a brief moment, his eyes softened, his face relaxed, and his tight grip on her arms eased. Maybe it was her eyes that shocked him out of the moment, or the way that her lip quivered in trepidation…or perhaps because he could practically hear her heart drumming against her ribcage in absolute fear. Yes, it was the fear that made him stop, the knowledge that she was afraid of him, and it was all his fault.

With a sigh and the realization that nearly all of his energy had been drained from being so close to her, Sasuke closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the couch, his cheek and ear touching against hers and their hair entangling together. He opened his eyes and stared blankly at the couch fabric in front of him. His hands left her arms to instead rest against the couch on either side of her, still caging her in but not hurting her. Despite him not touching her, he could still tell that she was shaking in uncertainty of either what he'd do next or if he was even sane…or both.

"Sasuke?" she asked in a whisper. "Are you alright?"

He released a short exhale at the same time that his eyes closed and his mouth twitched into a disbelieving smirk. "You don't understand…"

She naturally tried to turn toward him, but he was too close, so she only ended up pressing her cheek more into his, his mouth at her ear, and her mouth to his ear. "Understand what?"

"I've known for a long time that you've been hiding something." He felt close to laughing at her scornfully. "You think that to keep a secret, all you have to do is keep your mouth shut. But your eyes gave you away."

Another gulp and her eyes widened, followed by her heart picking up speed. _Does he know?_

"If you have seen him, you need to tell me. He's dangerous, Hinata. He's a demon. He destroyed my village and murdered my family."

The more she listened, the more horrified she was, but doubtful at the same time. She knew that Itachi had killed before—he did so right in front of her at their first meeting—but…destroying his own brother's village, his family? _No…I can't believe that. Itachi…he…he wouldn't do that…_

His lips neared her ear even more. "That pendant that you wear, that you keep so well hidden from everyone…it belongs to him." He pulled back, his eyes turning cold and uncaring. "One more time, Hinata. Where did you get it?"

She could feel the weight of his gaze, and even sense the sadness that lurked deep within his shaded eyes. For that reason, she wanted to help him, but at what expense? Putting Itachi at risk—no—putting Sasuke at risk. It wasn't worth it.

At her silence, Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Who gave it to you?"

Her eyes met his, and Sasuke was surprised to see the lack of fear and panic from earlier. Instead, it was the same look he had witnessed on various occasions—that look that made her seem older, ancient…secrets kept hidden…He could see it all.

"I gave it to her." A voice sounded from the doorway.

Both snapped their attention to the intruder, only to see Neji standing there with his arms crossed, and the ferocity of his glare focused on Sasuke.

Neji was definitely not pleased with what he saw upon entering the room and before he spoke. Sasuke (the bastard) was practically lying on top of Hinata, obviously invading her space, and whispering to her in an intimate manner that was clearly unwanted. They looked intimate at first like Sasuke was making a move on her, but upon closer inspection, and because Neji actually listened to what they were talking about, he realized that Sasuke was actually threatening her in a very intimidating (space-invading) way. Neji did not like what he was seeing.

Sasuke stayed where he was, only keeping his narrowed gaze on Neji. "You gave it to her." he repeated with sarcasm.

"I did…and it's in your best interest that you get off of her. Now."

Sasuke turned to face Hinata. "We'll continue this later." At that, he backed away, standing up fluidly despite the drain on his energy. Without so much as another look at Hinata, he walked toward the door where Neji was standing. His cold, ruthlessly black eyes stared ahead, and he didn't pause in his stride when he finally came up to Neji, passing by him with a challenging bump to the Hyuga's shoulder.

Neji gritted his teeth in suppressed anger, but he didn't comment…just waited until Sasuke left the room completely, the door being slammed shut behind him. Only then did Neji finally look at Hinata, who was still on the couch, pressed against the cushions. He gave her body a once-over, assuring himself that she was uninjured, which she apparently was. After that, he met her gaze with an angry one of his own. "Do you mind telling me what the hell that was about?"

Hinata had never felt so much stress before, and she could definitely feel a headache coming on. "I don't know, Neji." She muttered, resting her forehead into her palms. Keeping secrets, lying to everyone…it really was too much.

Neji merely sighed and walked over to her before sitting next to her on the couch. "I just lied for you, Hinata. Doesn't that warrant an explanation?"

She couldn't tell him the truth, of course, but there was no point in hiding it completely. Not anymore, anyway. It was so exhausting to keep track of so many different lies, remembering what lie was told to what person…So exhausting. "He recognized my necklace. He believes that it belongs to his brother."

Glancing at her chest, he could easily see the necklace she had spoken about, and he had never seen a pendant like that. "Is that diamond with blood in it?" he questioned, his tone sounding with disgust.

"Yes," she replied meekly.

"And did it belong to his brother?"

"No," More lies from Hinata. "He said that his brother's a demon."

Neji felt like laughing, but not with real humor. "Why would you have a demon's necklace? That's absurd."

Hinata smiled, though it hurt to do so.

"So, where'd you get it then?"

Didn't it figure that the moment her necklace came out of hiding, everyone would ask the same question. Where did it come from, Hinata? How'd you get it? Why not lie some more? _I hate lying to him, but what choice do I have? Lying is better than telling him the truth—that the necklace really does belong to a demon, and Sasuke's own brother no less. _So, she sighed again before talking. "It was given to me a long time ago by an old friend."

"Not Gaara, right?" Neji questioned with a slight edge to his voice.

"No, not Gaara. Not anyone here at the temple. Just an old friend who gave it to me because he had to leave." No lie there. "It was to remember him by."

"So, this is the real reason why you don't wear my necklace?"

She nodded apologetically. "I'm sorry."

"Is he planning on coming back?"

_He already has._ "I don't know."

Now, for the question that he was dreading to ask. "Did you love him?"

Hinata looked at him, showing clearly that she was not expecting that kind of question from Neji. She searched his eyes, only to see a jealous vulnerability. "Yes, as a friend."

"But nothing more?" He hoped not.

"No," she smiled, somewhat questioning herself if that was really true. Attracted to Itachi? Yes. In love with him? She didn't think so…

"Good." He sincerely chuckled that time.

"Thank you for understanding, Neji." She really was grateful, since she had been expecting more of an interrogation from him. But, apparently, the only thing that worried him was if she was in love with someone else.

He shook his head briefly before standing up and offering his hand to her. "You should never have to worry about me not being understanding with you. As long as you're honest, nothing else matters."

She took his hand silently, letting him help her to stand. When they were both standing, he didn't let go.

Suddenly, his voice changed to a serious tone with a slight warning to it. "It's the Uchiha you should worry about."

"I know." _Itachi was right. If Sasuke ever found out the truth, I could be dead._

The door to the room opened again, except this time, it was Naruto standing at the entryway, looking around, but apparently not seeing what he was hoping for.

"Naruto?" Hinata questioned, stepping away from Neji with concern for her blonde-haired friend. "Should you be out of bed?"

"Oh, hey, Hinata," he smiled wide, resting one hand at the back of his head. "Didn't expect you to be in here."

"Are you alright?" she persisted with worry.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine." He laughed. "Good as new! But, hey, have you seen Sasuke? Shizune said that he'd be in this room, but maybe I got it wrong…"

Neji crossed his arms over his chest again, a look of dissatisfaction on his face. "Oh, he was here, alright."

Naruto looked at him with blatant confusion. "He left?"

"Stormed out of here more like it." Neji became even more enflamed as the recent events passed through his memory. "When you find him, let him know that I'll kill him if he tries to hurt Hinata again."

Naruto's eyes hardened at the same time that his brows lowered with seriousness. His eyes trailed over to the young deity. "Did he hurt you?"

"No, no, of course not!" Hinata waved off the assumption. "He didn't even touch me."

"Then what happened?" Relief seemed to wash over Naruto, only to be replaced by concern.

Lowering her gaze to the ground shyly, she replied with a meek tone. "We just had a misunderstanding, that's all."

Naruto nodded slowly, glancing out the door before looking back at them. "Do you know where he went?"

Hinata shook her head before responding. "Sorry, I…I'm not really sure."

"Oh…Okay, well, thanks!" Naruto smiled again with a wave of his hand before running back out into the hallway.

It surprised Hinata to see him so normal again, especially after the recent night's events. It made her wonder if he even remembered what happened. Or, if he did remember, perhaps he was just acting like nothing happened in order to avoid the awkwardness. Whatever the case, Hinata didn't have much time to ponder on it, since Neji almost immediately began dragging her to the dining room to eat. And then, she supposed, he would probably force her to bed. While with good intentions, he might have been taking his guardian role a little too seriously.

* * *

It didn't take long for Naruto to find his best friend, and when he did find him, it was on the roof, which was the last place that the blonde wanted to be. It had been an awkward and uncomfortable day for Naruto since the moment he woke up. Dealing with Shizune was easy and helpful, since she was so kind as to go over what had happened the previous night. Naruto remembered, but he had to be sure that it wasn't another nightmare. When he realized that it really did happen, an amazing swell of guilt and shame enveloped his core.

Gaara, he knew, was fine and always would be, but from what he heard, the others didn't get so lucky. He had injured Gai and Jiraiya and Neji, but he felt especially guilty (and somewhat pridefully happy) at knowing that he had seriously injured Sasuke. To make matters even worse, he had almost attacked Hinata. Attacking Sasuke was one thing, but attacking Hinata, who wouldn't have stood a chance against his demonic form, was unforgiveable in his mind. It made him feel better about it, however, when he saw her without injury. In fact, she had been worried about him, which obviously meant that the previous night's events didn't make her hate him.

She was more understanding than Gaara led on. He remembered the time that Gaara told him about Hinata's knowledge when it came to what they were, and it surprised him to see that Hinata was alright with it to the point where it didn't change her view of him at all. Even after he almost attacked her, she still treated him like nothing was different—like he was still Naruto.

_I wonder if Ino would be that accepting…I really need to tell her about that part of myself. _The idea made him inwardly grimace in dread. _Someday…_

As for the moment, he had to speak to his best friend, and from what he saw of the damaged rooftop, Sasuke was at one end, hands in his pockets, and gaze focused on the horizon.

"You look pretty good for apparently having almost bled to death." The blonde commented as he walked up to the other half-demon, not stopping until he was standing beside him.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted in return. "Quick healer."

Naruto snorted. "Yeah…Healer as in Hinata."

Sasuke scowled at the name.

"Speaking of Hinata," Naruto began seriously. "I'm supposed to tell you that Neji will kill you if you try to hurt Hinata again, but according to Hinata, you two only had a misunderstanding." He looked at Sasuke, his bright blue eyes glinting with the need for clarity. "So, what really happened?"

"Nothing that's of any business to you." Sasuke turned to see Naruto getting ready to make an angry remark, so he continued. "Is that why you came to find me? To reprimand me? That's Kakashi's job, not yours."

Showing obvious anger, but keeping it in control, Naruto began. "I came to find you because when I woke up, Shizune told me that you were bleeding to death last night, and you would have if it wasn't for Hinata. And then I find out that you had a misunderstanding with the very person who saved your life—"

"And I saved hers. As far as I'm concerned, we're even." He paused, turning to his blonde friend completely. "She's hiding something, Naruto. I know she is."

"And why would you think that?" Naruto was skeptical.

"She wears this necklace," Sasuke replied, finally having a chance to explain the situation to someone; although, he had been planning to discuss it with Kakashi, but since he was absent, Naruto would have to do.

"So? Ino wears a lot of different necklaces. What's the big deal?"

"The big deal, you loser," the young Uchiha began feeling anger boil inside of him at how obtuse his friend was. "Is that the necklace she wears can only be, or I _thought _could only be worn by demons."

For once, Naruto stayed silent with only his brows lowering over his eyes.

Sasuke continued. "That necklace in particular…I've only ever seen worn by my half-brother."

"Itachi?" Naruto questioned, knowing the basic history of Sasuke's convoluted past.

"Yeah,"

There was a moment of silence between the two as Naruto let that information settle in his mind, along with the implications of such an accusation. "That doesn't make sense, Sasuke. Why would Hinata, of all people, be wearing your brother's necklace?"

"I don't know," Sasuke averted his gaze to the horizon once again. "I just know that she's hiding something, and I know that she didn't just 'find it' or that her guardian gave it to her. That doesn't add up."

Naruto laughed shortly. "If you ask me, that makes a lot more sense than anything else I can think of." He laughed again, hitting his hand against Sasuke's arm to get his attention. "The only time any of us leave this village is to go on a mission, and even then, the deities are never left alone, especially if there might be a demon nearby. But if what you're saying is true, then somehow…Hinata had to have gotten away from you, Neji, _and _Master Kakashi, and then happened to meet up with your half-brother, who is a demon and who _hates _humans. And _then_…she somehow winds up with his necklace…?"

Sasuke scowled again. "I don't know _how _it happened, Naruto, but maybe that's exactly what she's hiding."

"Who gives a shit if she's hiding something?" Naruto rebutted. "I'm still hiding the fact that I'm a half-demon from Ino, and you hide your past from everyone who doesn't already know. Why can't Hinata hide something too?"

Sasuke smirked without humor while shaking his head. "You don't get it."

Naruto regained his abnormal serious expression to stand in front of Sasuke, eyes narrowed with determination. "Look, I'm just warning you right now…Don't get obsessed over this. You have a lot of people who will make sure that you don't come anywhere near Hinata."

Sasuke laughed cynically. "Who? You?"

Naruto shook his head briefly. "Neji, Temari…Gaara. Just don't, Sasuke. It's not worth it. And Hinata's not that type of person anyway."

_I know_. Sasuke thought to himself. _That's why it bothers me. What would someone like her have to hide?_ Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Naruto turning around and beginning to leave. _I'm not going to threaten her life or anything. Hell—I've saved her life a couple times_. Then he thought of that mission and her getting attacked by those two demons, and he knew that he didn't really save her life that day. It had to have been the pendant, and if he had to guess, only those with demon blood could detect its power.

"Naruto," Sasuke called out, stopping the blonde from leaving the roof completely. He waited until Naruto turned to him with a raised brow before beginning. "That mission when Hinata got attacked by those demons…I was the one who came to save her that day."

Naruto nodded, not understanding his point. "Yeah, we all know about that."

"No, there's something that only I witnessed before Neji and Kakashi showed up—something that no one else knows about."

"What?" Naruto turned to face him completely, showing his intrigue.

"If I had never showed up, Hinata would've still been fine, because when I got there, one demon was keeping his distance from her, and the other one was rolling on the ground saying that he was on fire."

Naruto seemed confused again. "Did Hinata do something?"

Sasuke shook his head. "She doesn't have any gifts like that. It was the pendant."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Sasuke—"

"I could sense it, and you would be able to as well." That caught his attention, making Sasuke inwardly smirk. "When I get too close to her, I can feel my energy being drained. And that one time on the mission, I couldn't get close to her at all without knowing that I'd get burned."

Naruto shook his head, completely puzzled. "How…"

"It's the pendant, Naruto. I think only those with demon blood can sense it and get affected by it. Next time you see her, touch her and you'll know what I'm talking about."

* * *

Hinata had not quite been gone an hour and Itachi had just been getting to sleep when he was awoken abruptly. And it wasn't by anything near him; in fact, it had nothing to do with him. It was Hinata and her emotions that he was feeling that made him awaken from a much-needed sleep.

He felt panic and then horror, and then came the emotion that he was dreading—fear. Immediately, his mind ran through the facts. He knew that he had left her "safely" in her room, and he knew that she was nowhere outside the walls of Konoha. That only made him realize that whatever was putting fear into her had to be inside Konoha, probably inside the temple itself. If that was the case, then his instinct was to run and protect her, but his mind told him otherwise. He knew that if he went, it would only cause more problems.

Then again, if he didn't go, would she end up hurt? Or, worse, killed? These were the thoughts that plagued him, causing him to end up pacing around his cave, every part of himself focused on her emotions.

While it only happened for a brief moment, the state of her fear felt like it was lasting for hours, and he could do nothing but stay where he was, even though he had been debating whether to go or not. He remembered feeling her fear escalate and escalate to the point where he could practically hear her question herself as to whether or not she was going to die.

A second later, relief washed over her emotions and his, and he knew that she must have been saved. _Those idiotic protectors must have done something right for a change._

The relief soon morphed into concern, and concern into determination. Then, finally, she was exhausted. He could tell when she had fallen asleep, and it was that moment that he felt he could go back to sleep as well, and he did…for a few hours.

The change in her emotions happened so quickly that he found himself jolting up in his bed, red eyes blazing with vengeance. She was back to feeling fear and panic all over again, and he was seriously starting to get agitated and furious at whatever might be causing it. The fear and panic wasn't as heart-pounding as hours before, but it was fear and panic nonetheless, and he hated feeling that from her.

He was two seconds away from running over to the temple, sword in hand, to put an end to it all. He didn't care that it might mean he'd have to kill every last person in that temple, except Hinata. He didn't care that he might end up destroying Konoha by himself, or that he would end up just stealing Hinata away from the only friends and family she's ever known. At that point, none of that mattered; he just didn't want to feel those emotions from her anymore.

Just as he was about to pull through on his plans of action, he felt relief wash over her once again, and then he really felt like mutilating someone. For a moment, he considered strangling her for whatever the hell she was thinking, putting herself into dangerous situations and such. After the mission awhile ago, he thought that she had learned her lesson, but apparently not. It seemed just her luck that she would wind up being in the middle of dangerous situations without any means to protect herself. _Damn girl._

When everything had seemed to cool down, he was finally able to rest with the knowledge that as soon as he saw her again, he would first question her about what happened, and then yell at her for putting him through that. And perhaps he could reason with her about why it would be so much better if she just abandoned her home and left with him forever. At least that way, he wouldn't have to lose sleep over whether or not she was safe and out of harm's way.

He really needed to come up with a plan to get her to leave with him. Their current situation was too irritating to deal with anymore.

And Itachi really hated to share.

* * *

**Thank you everyone for being patient with me! I wasn't lying when I said that I won't be dropping this story anytime soon; it just might take awhile, that's all. **

**Anyway, the next chapter should be finished soon, so leave me some love, and I'll see you again next chapter!**

**-Tranquilwriter**


	25. Escalation

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. THANK YOU FOR GETTING ME OVER 1000 REVIEWS!**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XXIV**

**Escalation**

* * *

"_When one's character begins to fall under suspicion and disfavor, how swift, then, is the work of disintegration and destruction."_

_-Mark Twain_

"…_it's often the places we feel safest that put us at the greatest risk…"_

_-Caroline Flint_

* * *

Hinata's prediction had been correct. As soon as she had eaten, Neji rushed her off to bed with the order to make up for the sleep that she had lost the previous night. And she did.

She just wasn't able to sleep any more than that, because by the time that the afternoon rolled around, Temari barged into her bedroom to wake her up, telling her to hurry and get ready. "We don't get a day off very often, Hinata. Let's not spoil it by sleeping."

Without complaint, Hinata did just as she was ordered, and soon found herself walking side-by-side with Temari down the corridor, heading somewhere she didn't know about. Frankly, she was too sleepy-eyed to care. She just walked while rubbing her eyes at regular intervals, during which time, Temari talked about…Well, Hinata wasn't quite sure.

"Hey, Hina," Temari began, her mood suddenly serious.

Hinata looked over at her friend, while inwardly forcing herself to wake up. "Yes?"

"What really happened last night? I heard that you were the only one of us girls to witness it."

Hinata furrowed her brows in confusion and surprise. "No one told you what happened?"

Temari snorted and rolled her eyes. "All I was told was that Sasuke and Naruto got in a fight and Gaara went to go mediate. I was assured that everyone was fine, and no one was injured badly. If you ask me, that sounds like a bullshit excuse."

"Were you awake?"

"Of course I was! I heard all the guys trampling down the hallway and got up to go see what was going on, but Shikamaru was right outside my door and wouldn't let me leave. Apparently, Kankuro was keeping Tenten locked up, too, and Choji was guarding Ino and Sakura's bedrooms, even though those two lazy-asses were still asleep." She paused, sighing in frustration. "I haven't seen the guys this morning, so I haven't had a chance to ask anyone about it. In fact, everyone who would know is apparently gone."

"Gone? What do you mean?" Hinata asked. "Where did everyone go?"

Temari shrugged. "As far as I know, Lord Jiraiya is with Lord Sarutobi, Master Kakashi and Master Asuma are still out on that mission, Lady Tsunade and Shizune are working in the pavilion with Master Gai and Miss Kurenai,"

"Did any of the security force go to the pavilion, too?" Hinata interjected, inwardly praying that Sasuke was not on the premises. The last thing she needed was to be cornered or ambushed at random intervals, and interrogated on the origin of her pendant.

Temari didn't answer right away, as she seemed to be recalling where everyone really was. "I think…all of them went except for Shikamaru."

Hinata released a tangible breath of relief. She was safe from Sasuke's tormenting at least for a few hours. "Good…"

"Good?" Temari turned to her with a raised brow.

Hinata nearly fumbled with her words. "Uh, yes, I mean…it's good that the pavilion hasn't been closed down, since we won't be there today…and, um…" she gulped, searching for an explanation. "I'm sure it'll be good training for the security force…"

Temari shook her head and chuckled. "Okay, Hina. But, speaking of training, in case you were wondering, Shikamaru and our guardians are training with Anko in the courtyard, which leaves us deities all to ourselves."

"Oh, so…" Hinata was definitely waking up now. "What are we doing?"

"Uh-uh," Temari shook her head in defiance. "I'm not telling you until you tell me about last night's details."

"Oh…well," Hinata stopped in the middle of the hallway, causing for Temari to stop as well, understanding the need for privacy and time to explain. "From what I know, Sasuke and Naruto really did get in a fight. Lady Tsunade told me that Sasuke said something to Naruto that made him…snap, I guess."

Temari frowned. "His demon blood took over?"

"I'm afraid so. When I got up to the rooftop, Naruto…he didn't look like himself, and he wasn't acting like himself. He was acting like…"

"A demon." Temari answered for her, expressly showing her concern over the whole situation. "What else?"

"Gaara was trying to restrain Naruto, and Sasuke was trying to fend him off. It was too dangerous for anyone else to get involved."

"Was Gaara hurt?" Temari asked, showing the true worry of an older sister.

"No, but Naruto and Sasuke were." Seeing the anxiety whelming up inside Temari, Hinata continued quickly with assurances. "But Naruto's okay! I saw him this morning, and he's completely healthy."

Relief showed on Temari's features at the same time that a smile began to tilt her lips. "That's good. So…how'd they get him to calm down?"

Hinata blushed and looked down at the ground in apparent shame. "I guess that was my fault…When Naruto was like that…he saw me and tried to attack me, but Sasuke…" she remembered vividly seeing Sasuke sprint to her aid, suddenly reappearing in front of her, using himself as a shield against Naruto's attack. Honestly, Sasuke was the last person that she expected to protect her. It made her wonder why he even bothered if he was so mean to her all the time.

"Hina?" Temari questioned, laughter hiding behind her very amused face. "You were saying before you completely zoned out?"

"Oh," Hinata shook herself, remembering where she left off. "Um, Sasuke stopped Naruto in time before he could reach me. He must have done something to stop him, but whatever it was, it made Naruto pass out and return back to normal. After that, Lady Tsunade, Shizune, and I spent the whole night healing everyone's injuries."

"I knew it!" Temari shouted in anger. "I knew they were injured! Son of a bitch…"

"They're fine now, Temari." Hinata tried to reassure her before her very furious friend did anything she might regret.

Taking a deep breath to relax herself, Temari laughed silently before throwing her arm around her younger friend's shoulders. "All thanks to you, I'm sure. It's a good thing you were there, Hina."

"Thank you…"

There was a brief moment of silence before Temari laughed under her breath and began leading Hinata down the hallway again. "So, you want to know what we've got planned today?"

Hinata just smiled in waiting.

"We're going to rehearse and practice our asses off." Temari announced as if she was revealing her plot to take over the world.

"But, you said that Miss Kurenai's not here, so…?"

"Well, yeah. We're doing this completely on our own." Temari explained energetically. "It's about damn time that we actually came up with one of our own songs. I mean, we're all good enough now to do it, and I think that we can come up with something that's going to kick ass!"

"Like what…?" Hinata asked cautiously.

Temari shrugged. "Not completely sure yet. Sakura's idea was that we all do solos, but somehow combine those solos into one flowing song. What do ya think?"

Hinata just nodded. "I wouldn't mind."

"But, here's the tricky part." The blonde rolled her eyes. "All of your guys' solos have to share some type of beat that matches the song so that it all matches up, and doesn't sound like we just tried to mix a bunch of random parts together—know what I mean?"

"Yeah…" Just as Hinata finished speaking, they had finally arrived at the music room, and entered through the doors, only to see the other three deities already there and practicing.

Temari spoke before the others had a chance to greet them. "I already filled Hinata in on what we're doing."

"You did?" Tenten asked with an amused raised brow. "Cause I didn't think _we_ even figured that out yet."

"We're going with Sakura's idea." Temari stated as if it was a fact.

Sakura seemed pleasantly surprised—giddy even. "We are? Really?"

Ino smirked. "It would be a good way to show off how bad-ass we are. Only solos can do that."

"Wait," Tenten interrupted, turning her question to Temari. "We don't play instruments, we dance." She looked confused. "Solo dancing?"

"Well, why not?" Temari countered. "How often do we get to come up with a dance that's completely our own?"

Instead of replying to the rhetorical question, Tenten thought for a moment before nodding. "Alright, let's do it."

"So, we each come up with our own solos, but…" Ino began. "We need to tie them together somehow. We need to come up with some type of correlation…the same basic harmony, I guess."

"Nothing slow." The older brunette supplied. "And definitely nothing depressing."

"So…" Sakura thought about it. "Something upbeat,"

Temari nodded. "Something that Tenten and I are going to want to dance to."

Hinata thought of something, and turned to Temari for an answer. "When you two dance, are you going to want all of us to play or just one of us?"

"Like only use a specific instrument?" Temari clarified before thinking to herself about it, and then turning to Tenten. "What do you think?"

"I won't be needing any instrumentals."

"What? Why not?"

"Well," Tenten smiled with internal happiness. "I've actually had this one idea for a dance that I've always wanted to do. And, in a way, I'd be making my own music." Seeing their confusion, she quickly added, "I'll just have to show you sometime."

"Hm," Temari thought about it again. "I'm thinking that I want to do something wind-related, so…in that case, I'll probably only need Ino's flute for my part. You mind?" She asked the young blonde, who merely shrugged, not really caring.

"Just let me know the kind of beat you're wanting."

"I will when I think of it. For now, I have to work on my choreography."

"Same here." Tenten added.

"So," Sakura caught the attention of her two fellow instrument players. "I think we should work on some type of harmony and then build our solos off of that."

"Okay, well, let's get to it." Ino smiled in excitement. "Especially since we're not going to have a lot of time after today to work on it."

"Agreed."

* * *

By the time dinner rolled around, the deities were satisfied with their progress and the completion of a common harmony. All that was left to work on was their solos, which could be easily accomplished on their own time.

Ino stretched happily. "We did good today, guys."

The music room door opened, allowing the guardians to flow inside to escort their deities to dinner. Naruto frowned upon seeing them, even though it looked more like a pout. "Have you all been in here the whole day?"

Ino frowned right back. "Have you all been outside the whole day?"

Naruto just smiled mischievously before approaching his blonde lover and throwing an arm around her shoulders.

Shikamaru entered as well, and found his way to Temari, the two still keeping enough distance between them so as to hide what was really between them. Lee was the opposite, however. He ran passed Kankuro to pick up Sakura into his arms and twirl her around, exclaiming his joy at seeing his "beautiful blossom". While Kankuro and Tenten's relationship was subdued compared to Lee's and Sakura's, the connection they shared was tangible enough for everyone to notice, though most of them were occupied with their own significant others.

Gaara leaned against a wall off to the side, offering a nod of greeting to Hinata before resuming his relaxed pose. As it turned out, it was only Neji who came up to Hinata while assuming a somewhat tensed and awkward casualness to his walk. Shikamaru and Temari seemed to dance around each other, but with Neji and Hinata, it was more like walking on eggshells or testing the waters before trying to melt into a carefree relationship that did not exist anymore.

Outsiders would wonder why there was so much effort being put into keeping up needless pretenses.

Amidst the typical occurrences of the temple family, there was a hidden agenda mixed within, and it originated from Naruto and directed to Hinata.

While Ino chatted to Sakura, Naruto became curious as he glanced over at the dark-haired deity, who occupied herself by exchanging pleasantries with Neji. The blonde's eyes drifted to her neckline, expecting to see a necklace out in the open, but he saw nothing, only perhaps an outline of it beneath her gown, and only because he was looking for it.

_**"It's the pendant, Naruto. I think only those with demon blood can sense it and get affected by it. Next time you see her, touch her and you'll know what I'm talking about."**_

Sasuke was his best friend, as much as he hated to admit it, so he had to show his support by investigating his theory. In order to do that, all he had to do was touch her.

Neji was smiling in a small way, his loving gaze directed to his deity. "Did you make up for the sleep you lost?"

"Yes," Hinata smiled back. "For the most part."

He raised a brow. "Who woke you up?"

"Temari…" Her smile became more of a pout at which he chuckled.

Inching closer to her, he moved his mouth next to her ear, laughter still tainting his voice. "The world is out to get you, it would seem."

She blushed at the proximity. "Just when I want to sleep."

"Hey!" Naruto jumped next to them with a huge smile on his face.

Disappointedly, Neji stepped back, while Hinata relaxed with relief before offering Naruto a not-as-exuberant smile.

Ino came over to stand next to Naruto, arms crossed over her chest.

"What, Naruto?" Neji questioned sternly.

"Just sayin' hi."

"Naruto, are you—?"

Understanding her question before she could finish it, he interrupted. "I'm good. How are you?"

"…okay…" She replied, realizing internally that he hadn't filled Ino in on exactly what happened the previous night. It made her wonder if she even knew that he and Sasuke got in a fight.

"Let's go eat." Ino declared, trying to put Naruto into action.

"Yeah! Come on, you guys!" Naruto put his arm back around Ino and his other hand against Hinata's back in a way to push her along.

His hand had only touched her skin for a split second before he released it just as quickly, his wide eyes staring in shock after Hinata who was being led away by Neji. It had burned…a lot, as if he had just stuck his hand into fire itself.

He had sensed it, too. The danger. The warning to stay away from her or he'd get hurt.

_Holy shit, Sasuke was right._

But what did that mean? He sensed a demon presence from her—true—but a demon presence on Hinata just didn't make sense. He could see the evidence that Sasuke told him about, but that wasn't enough for Naruto. Sasuke was convinced that Hinata had done or was doing something unforgiveable, but seriously, Hinata? Of all people? That didn't add up whatsoever, no matter what Sasuke said.

"I seriously don't understand them." Ino interrupted his train of thought.

The couple were following behind everyone else, giving them a good point of view to analyze their friends.

"Don't understand who?" Naruto asked.

"Temari and Shikamaru."

"What's not to understand?"

"It's so obvious that they're in love with each other—they know it, we know it, but how do they not know that we know? It's so obvious! Seriously, they should just stop the act since it's not working anymore."

"Tem and the lazy-ass? Really? They like each other?"

Ino laughed. "Duh, where have you been for the past couple years?"

Naruto only shrugged.

Ino continued. "But they're not as bad as Hinata and Neji. Now, that relationship is just a headache."

"Oh," Naruto understood what she meant. "Yeah, because Neji's in love with her but she doesn't have a clue about it."

"No."

"No?"

"I know she knows about his feelings. My theory is that she doesn't love him like that, but she won't say anything 'cause it'll hurt his feelings. But," she paused dramatically before whispering conspiratorially to him. "I think it's also because she might have feelings for somebody else."

Naruto looked shocked and intrigued by the juicy gossip. "How do you know that? Who do you think it is?"

"Dunno. My best guess would be Gaara, but that doesn't seem right. They just seem like friends. After that, I would say Sasuke, but let's face it—she's really just terrified of the guy."

"Huh." _Well, why wouldn't she be? He's obviously out to get her with his obsession that she's hiding something._

"Nobody else would make sense since she doesn't really eye anyone the way that Shikamaru and Temari eye each other." She laughed then. "Who knows? For all we know, it could be someone we've never met before."

Naruto narrowed his gaze, feeling inward sympathy for Neji. "Neji wouldn't like that."

Ino snorted. "That ice-cold jerk wouldn't like her being in love with anyone else but him. He tries to act like he's her best friend, too, but she'll never escape his clutches." Another pause and she was glaring at Naruto with a warning. "If you _ever _get that territorial with me, I will bash your head in, do ya hear?"

Naruto laughed nervously while waving his hands frantically. "Come on, Ino! I would never do that to you."

"Good. Now, let's eat cause I'm hungry."

He laughed naturally that time. "You said it."

* * *

Dinner that night had never been more uncomfortable in her entire life, and it was all because of Sasuke Uchiha. For the most part, Hinata didn't even have to look up to know that he was staring, or glaring, at her. Amidst all of the talking and conversation, it seemed that she was the only one to sense his gaze on her. Everyone else seemed completely oblivious, which didn't make her feel any better.

Neji remarked on her behavior by simply asking if she was alright, and Temari did the same. Other than that, she didn't think that anyone noticed why she was so tense, or the fact that she was tense at all.

However, Gaara noticed, and of course, Gaara knew why, though not exactly. He noticed almost right away that Hinata had been acting particularly nervous, and a quick glance to his right showed that it was Sasuke's endless stare that was making her uncomfortable. While Gaara didn't exactly know why Sasuke was glaring at her in such a way, he couldn't help but feel as though it wasn't anything good. He suspected that something might have happened between the two, something Hinata might have done to set the young Uchiha off on a tantrum.

Gaara became even more confused about the situation when he saw that even Naruto was acting suspiciously. While the blonde would occasionally include himself in a conversation, being exuberant as usual, he would also zone out for a moment, his blue eyes glazing over in deep thought. What worried Gaara the most, though, was seeing that his blonde friend would also glance at Hinata at random intervals.

The real question should have been something more along the lines of what exactly happened between the three of them?

Hinata eventually caught his gaze, and while nothing verbal was said between them, the two seemed to have had an entire conversation through their eyes. Gaara saw her being nervous at first before the emotion changed to something more helpless and fatigued, like she wanted to ask for his help and understanding. He tried to express to her at that moment in the way that his eyes narrowed that all she had to do was tell him what she needed, something that she should've already known when it came to their friendship. But then, the emotions in her eyes changed to a feeling of shame, the kind of look that she always adopted when she felt that a certain situation was her fault, her way of saying that she had gotten into trouble again.

At that, Gaara could hardly refrain from rolling his eyes, as if it came as no surprise to him that she would be in trouble yet again. Sometimes, he wondered if he would've been better off not knowing her secret at all, seeing as it only managed to involve him every time she failed to cover her tracks. However, that feeling was always overridden by the fact that it made him feel included, like a friend, whenever she needed him. He liked that part the best—being needed by someone. If that someone happened to be Hinata, he didn't mind in the least. After all, it looked as if she was the one who needed it the most.

He knew that she would eventually approach him with whatever she needed, but he also knew that it would have to be on her own time when she actually mustered up the courage to admit her mistake to him—if it was a mistake, that is.

Either way, he was a patient man; or, at least, he was when it came to that timid creature of a friend that he had. His only worry rested in the way that Sasuke kept looking at said timid creature. It wasn't just a glare that said "I'm watching you", but it was definitely something more obsessive, one that more accurately stated "you won't be able to hide or run from me, because I will catch you…each and every time."

_What has she done now?_

* * *

As per usual, Neji escorted Hinata back to her bedroom after dinner with the obvious intention that it was time to end their rarely given free day. Not to mention, Neji was still adamant about Hinata getting as much rest as possible. While he did not know exactly what it was like, he was always able to notice how much Hinata's goddess-given ability took a toll on her energy, her more so than any of the other deities. An hour of straight healing for her drained as much energy as it would for him if he were to train nonstop for one whole day. He didn't understand why her ability drained so much energy, but it occurred nonetheless.

Another, more important, reason why he enjoyed being the last to see her before she slept was because it gave him the privacy he wanted in order to talk to her in order to ensure for himself that he was still her number one person, though he did have his doubts from time to time, especially recently.

After the whole Sasuke incident, Neji couldn't stop thinking about the childhood friend that she said she had before coming to the temple. All those times in their years of knowing each other, he had always had the feeling that she was keeping a certain distance between them, putting boundaries so he couldn't get too close to her. It always made him wonder why. He sometimes suspected that it might be because she had already given her heart to someone else, which was why he always kept an eye on Gaara, thinking that the redhead was the receiver of her affections.

Then Hinata confessed to Neji about having some childhood friend, who gave her that necklace that she always wore, never taking it off for any reason. She said that she didn't love her friend as anything more than a friend, but he was starting to doubt that the more he thought about it.

Either way, though, what did he have to worry about anymore? She said that she hadn't seen her friend in years, basically stating that he wasn't going to return anytime soon. That meant that Neji still had a chance, but after he had declared his feelings to her, it seemed that she was unintentionally putting even more distance between them, probably due to her confusion on the matter.

It made him wonder if by him giving her somewhat of an ultimatum to reply to his feelings as soon as possible that he might have been pushing her a little too hard, pressing her too much. Would he end up losing her forever that way?

By constantly pushing her for an answer, was he unintentionally pushing her away?

He would rather remain friends with her with no hope of it turning into anything more if it meant that he would never lose her.

At the rate he was going, how much longer before she would leave him completely and turn her back on him?

For years, he had always hoped that their relationship would gradually evolve from friendship into love—that was always his plan. But, he had become impatient, and now he could possibly be ruining the very relationship that he treasured most of all.

He had to put an end to his irrationality.

"Um, goodnight, Neji."

Her departing words awoke him from his deep thoughts, making him realize that they had already arrived at her bedroom door. He watched as she smiled at him and began to enter her room, her hand wrapped around the doorknob.

In slight panic, he reached out to grasp onto her wrist, halting her in place. "Hinata, wait."

She faced him, her smile replaced with surprise and concern. "What is it, Neji?"

His expression morphed into nothing more than seriousness. "I need to talk to you."

Her eyes widened in worry and slight fear, thinking that he was going to demand an answer from her now, an answer that she didn't have yet, or at least, an answer that she wasn't ready to give. "I-I don't know, Neji. Now's not a good time, since it's late, and—"

"It's important." He stated simply before following her into her bedroom and closing the door behind him to allow for privacy.

It was dark in her bedroom, the torches not being lit and only certain beams of moonlight shining through. She stood before him, her fingers wringing together in front of her stomach as she stared at him beneath her lashes in a nervous nature.

Brows furrowed, Neji stood directly in front of her, hands at his sides, and gaze focused intently on her anxious form. For what felt like awhile, neither spoke and only tense silence reigned supreme.

Neji finally broke the silence, and only after many failed attempts at trying to start the conversation. It wasn't until his eyes hardened with determination and a sigh escaped his lips that he finally released anything verbal. "Hinata…" He waited until she met his gaze before continuing. "I don't…" he trailed off, trying to figure out the best way to word it. "You don't have to feel pressured to answer me anymore…about what your feelings for me are…"

Her eyes were slightly widened as she stared at Neji with obvious surprise, since she certainly wasn't expecting to hear that from him.

He glanced away with a frown. "I realize that I was pressuring you to give me an answer, and in doing so, I was making it harder on you…and causing unwanted tension in our relationship. So…I'm not going to expect an answer from you anymore." He shrugged. "I figure that if you ever do return my feelings, you'd let me know. And if you don't…"

A crease formed between her brows as she gazed at him in sympathy with the pain that he must be feeling. "Neji…" She whispered, stepping closer to him.

He turned back to her before finding the floor more interesting to look at. "If you don't return my feelings, then that's fine. No matter what, I don't want to end up losing our friendship, which…is more important to me."

It was at that moment that Hinata realized that either way, she was going to end up hurting her beloved guardian. Whether she answered him or not, he would end up getting hurt, unless she were to tell him that she did return his feelings, but she knew that it was impossible. She knew in the deepest recesses of her heart that she would never be able to love Neji the way that he wanted her to. She wanted to make him happy, but the price was too high for the both of them.

If Temari was there, then the older blonde would reprimand Hinata and tell her to tell Neji the truth and stop prolonging the inevitable, because it would only hurt Neji even more. Temari always seemed to be right about these things, and at the moment, Hinata hated that, but she had to listen.

Mustering up whatever courage she possessed, Hinata approached Neji and didn't stop until she was barely an inch away from him. Without hesitation, she slowly moved to grasp onto both of his hands, alerting his attention to her. "Can I be honest with you?"

He looked at her, already feeling trepidation for what he knew was coming, which was why he smiled slightly and gazed upon her with tender care. "Have I ever made you think that you couldn't?"

She didn't smile at that; in fact, it only seemed to depress her more. "I want to see you happy…but…"

Seeing her struggle, Neji sighed while repressing the urge to chuckle at her antics. "Just say it, Hinata."

"I love you, Neji." She watched as he looked at her with something akin to pleasant surprise. "I always have and I always will…" She paused to gulp. "But…I don't think that I can ever be _in _love with you."

It definitely hurt to hear that—he knew it would, but it was also somewhat of a relief to hear her finally give him an answer.

Panicking at seeing his expression mimic rejection, she moved even closer and rested one palm against his cheek. "You will always be one of my very best friends. I trust you with my life, and my greatest wish is for you to find happiness one day." She bit her lip, feeling her eyes moisten. "I can't give you the happiness that you deserve…I'm so sorry."

"Hey," Neji released his hand from her grip to wipe away at the tears that began to trek down her cheeks. "Don't do that." He ended up releasing a breathy laugh at seeing her cry in a situation where, if anything, he should be the one crying. He was the one getting rejected, after all. But, go figure that Hinata would cry over someone else's pain, and the fact that she believed that she was the one who caused it. "You're such a baby. You cry more than anyone I've ever known."

"I'm sorry," she sniffled, feeling just as confused as to why she was getting so emotional.

"If this is your way of trying to let me down easy…well, it's kind of working." He smirked at seeing her smile through her tears, her way of showing that she appreciated his humor. Even so, he continued to clear away the tearstains that marred the skin he loved so much.

"You're not mad at me?" she whimpered, keeping her eyes sheltered from his gaze.

"No," he answered honestly. After all, he was kind of expecting to hear that answer from her anyway, despite all his hopes. "However, I have to ask…"

She looked up expectantly.

"Why are you crying?" he was smiling with humor.

She laughed softly, her tears no longer forthcoming. "I hurt you, because I couldn't give you the right answer."

He shook his head, his wintry eyes dancing with hidden laughter, and he did this while pulling her against him, wrapping his arms around her in an embrace. His chin settled on top of her head, relishing in the feel of her arms coming to wrap around him as well. "You're always so sensitive."

"I know." She buried her face into his chest, her hands clenching loosely onto his shirt.

Neji decided then and there that if she was going to want to remain just friends, then he would not hesitate in doing so. However, that didn't mean that he wasn't going to still try to get her to one day reciprocate his feelings. One day…

* * *

During the night when it seemed that all had gone to sleep, a figure silently appeared on Hinata's balcony. He lay crouched on the railing, searching the room distractedly before settling his gaze on the obvious form of the sleeping Hinata, who was perfectly concealed by her bed covers.

Still remaining silent, he lowered his feet to the floor and began to stalk toward the bedside with predatory instinct. His plan for being there was simple. He simply wanted to talk to her, and only apply force if necessary.

By the goddess, he needed answers, and something pulled at him, telling him that she had those answers. Why her, he still had no idea, but he wouldn't stop persisting until she gave him the information that he knew she had.

He crept closer to the bedside, his eyes staying focused on her still form and the slight movements that her torso made from breathing.

He suddenly stopped, however, at sensing that he wasn't alone in this room, besides Hinata's presence, of course. Straightening his body to a supreme calmness, he waited for the other person to make themselves known.

The "other person" did just that as he moved from his position in the shadows to stand with the moonlight illuminating his wild red hair and voluminous aquamarine eyes, which held a threatening intensity. "What are you doing in here, Uchiha." Gaara's gravelly voice muttered with a warning laced within.

Smirking, Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets and raised a brow at the other half-demon. "I could ask the same of you." He paused abruptly, glancing over at the sleeping deity, smirk gone.

As if being able to read his thoughts, Gaara answered the unasked question. "You don't have to whisper. She's a heavy sleeper, so I doubt that she would be able to hear us unless we were shouting."

"Hn," Sasuke narrowed his eyes contemptuously at the redhead. "Spend a lot of time in here, do you?"

Gaara seemed calm and unruffled by the Uchiha's remarks. "Only when there's an intruder."

Even though the two men remained silent for that moment, merely staring at each other, it wouldn't be hard to miss the way that their eyes seemed to assess each other, sizing up the threat and opponent.

Finally, Sasuke visibly relaxed into his usual arrogant stance. Another smug smirk graced his lips as he stared at the redhead with black, abysmal eyes. "Let me guess. Neji is her daytime guardian and you must be her nighttime guardian. That doesn't sound too interesting, unless you get some type of perverse pleasure at watching her sleep."

Gaara narrowed his eyes. "Even if that were true," he began slowly. "That doesn't explain why _you're _here."

It was Sasuke's turn to narrow his eyes in challenge. "I need to speak with her. Alone. But every time I try, one of her _guardians _always finds a way to interrupt." His words and tone were clipped with an edge, making his words sound tainted with disgust.

"I suspect that's because she has nothing to profit by your conversation." Gaara paused, taking pleasure in the hardened scowl that became Sasuke's expression. "Though I am curious as to what business you have with her."

"I'm surprised you haven't already figured it out." With that, Sasuke turned on his heel and departed for the balcony. When he was once again crouched on the railing, he paused to give a side-glance to Gaara. "You won't always be there to protect her, and when that time comes…" Sasuke trailed off with a smirk before leaving the bedroom entirely.

Gaara simply glared after him, while his sand began to stream from the bed, underneath the sheets and covers before touching to the floor and returning to its master. Gradually, Hinata's bed returned to being empty, the sand having been a façade of the person that was supposed to be occupying the bed but wasn't.

Gaara had acted quickly upon sensing that someone was intending to enter Hinata's room, and the last thing she needed was that someone to discover that she wasn't actually there. It was Gaara's intention to safeguard her room until she returned, and on this night, that meant that he had to make Sasuke believe that Hinata was nowhere else but sleeping peacefully in her bed.

And Gaara wasn't a fool. He had questioned himself earlier as to why Sasuke had been following Hinata so intensely, but now he had a fairly good idea as to the reason behind it all.

If Gaara's suspicions were correct, then Sasuke either knew or highly suspected that Hinata had some connection with his murderous brother. If that was the case, then…Hinata could be in more trouble than he first thought.

Glancing back at the bed, he recalled to himself that Hinata had actually left about an hour ago, which meant that in another few hours, she would be returning. He would let her rest, of course, but first thing in the morning or whenever he had the chance, he would talk to her about the Sasuke issue, reminding himself to bring up Naruto as well.

Until then and even afterwards, he would have to keep an eye on her, since her guardian probably didn't have a clue, and he really didn't want Sasuke to get anywhere with Hinata, no matter how harmless the conversation might be.

He released a string of curses into the night air, realizing that the further involvement he had in Hinata's life, the more trouble it meant for him as her confidant and friend.

_It's getting worse._

* * *

Training with Itachi was relentless as always, she trying her hardest to improve and please him, and he persisting to push her beyond her limits. While outwardly the same, this night's training was different on a more internal level.

For starters, Hinata had been plagued by so many issues concerning Itachi, not including her own emotional feelings regarding him that she had yet to sort through.

Itachi, for his part, seemed calm and composed as always, but the slight edge to his tone and the way his eyes would glint with some unnamable emotion when directed at her was all it took for him to feel anything but calm and composed.

It seemed that they were both fighting against some type of confounding wall in their relationship, trying to break it down and yet afraid to at the same time. Confounding, indeed.

After her encounter with Sasuke, she suddenly had so many questions for Itachi, but she feared asking him since she knew that he probably wouldn't answer. That thought made her angry in a way. She sympathized and tried to understand that it wasn't her business and it might be a sensitive subject for him, but at the same time, she reminded herself that she had told him many personal things about her that were sensitive subjects. Even when she had been reluctant to tell him anything, he had always pushed her into telling him eventually. Why couldn't she do the same?

In that case, the only reason she could think of as to why he wouldn't tell her anything was because he didn't trust her with the information. He didn't trust her.

While she could understand that because they were in fact supposed to be enemies, it also hurt because she cared for him greatly, and assumed that the feelings were mutual.

Maybe she was wrong about that, and the thought only hurt more.

Despite all the urges and emotions that Itachi felt in regards to Hinata, he had to remind himself, first and foremost, that he still needed to discuss something with her. He had questions that needed answering.

His palm flew up to block one of her punches, his other hand moving just as fast to push away a kick. Their sparring continued on, neither one of them really paying much attention to it. Itachi's eyes were narrowed, as were Hinata's, except hers were done so with determination.

When another punch flew at him, instead of blocking, he grasped onto her wrist and held it, his other hand moving to redirect her second hit. "Explain to me what happened last night."

Hinata was momentarily derailed by his sudden question, especially since they hadn't spoken much since he picked her up from her room that night. In fact, all that had been said were a few pleasantries from her and training orders from him. It seemed that as soon as they had reached the meadow, Itachi didn't let her talk and only told her to begin training. Even during their training, he hadn't said a word, not even a reprimand for her mistakes.

Every time that she messed up, he didn't remark and only waited for her to continue, which she did. It seemed strange to her, but she didn't comment, only assuming that he had other things on his mind. She inwardly hoped that his deep thinking had nothing to do with her; she rather hoped that his thoughts were focused on his race's activities.

Normally, if she thought that he had been thinking about her, it usually sent an excited wave of fluttering throughout her stomach. However, seeing that his expression of deep thought didn't look the least bit pleasant—in fact, it looked as though he were frustrated or angry—it really did make her hope that it wasn't about her.

No matter the circumstances, the thought of Itachi being displeased with her always sent a chill down her spine, because it always led to the thought that someday soon, he would leave her for good, as soon as he realized that she wasn't good enough for him—err…his attention and time. Yes, his attention and time.

She repressed a sigh, inwardly wondering where her headache was. With all the emotional and mental stress that she had been going through (in just the past day, no less), she expected to have some type of headache, much like the ones that Gaara would get from time to time. However, there was no headache, just utter and complete exhaustion, along with the temptation to just sleep through the next five or ten years.

She loved Itachi. She loved being around him—so much so, that at the most basic part of her core, she knew that she would sacrifice everything for him. If he asked it of her, she would do anything. She may hesitate or it may hurt her in the end, but she couldn't deny her devotion to this demon. That, more than anything, scared her.

For a little more than ten years, they knew each other, with ten of those years being apart from each other, but somehow…it made her feel closer to him, even though at times, he seemed different than she remembered. Either way, somewhere along the way of their relationship, he had become her entire world.

It was terrifying. He made her feel so many things, and vulnerable was definitely one those things. She knew that whenever he wanted, he could crush her, and it would be too easy, and she didn't mean that in the literal sense.

She couldn't understand what was wrong with her.

Itachi watched with a small measure of patience as she seemed to ignore his question and drift into her own trail of thoughts. The emotions that transferred from the pendant to him were vast and quick-moving, skipping from one end of the spectrum to the other in a matter of seconds. What disconcerted him, however, was that the main emotion she felt was somewhat new to him, so he couldn't quite identify it, but it was the identifiable emotion that troubled him.

It was trepidation and anxiety and a deep-rooted fear all mixed in one—a combination that seemed out of place on her usual cheerful demeanor. He could only guess at the reasoning, and the one he ended up sticking to was the answer that she was supposed to give him.

At some point, her finger came up to curl against her lip as her gaze drifted away in an unfocused manner. With her lips slightly parted, she proved to be quite adorable to gaze upon. For Itachi, however, as soon as his eyes fell to her lips, his eyes glazed over and became half-lidded. She would occasionally bite onto her lower lip, obviously not realizing the effect that it served on her demon companion.

In fact, he could feel his muscles tense at the sight and heat rush through his body, along with a familiar urge pounding in his blood.

Night by night, it was becoming harder to ignore his bodily reactions to her. There were certain moments like this where his brain seemed to shut down, and all that would run through his mind were not-so-innocent images of her that teased him into wanting to corrupt her in the most pleasurable way he could…and would, if given the chance.

After all, she was an arousing sight to behold, and damn it, she didn't even know it.

He supposed that it was too late to deny how much he wanted her…how much he wanted to claim her as his own.

All that kept him in check were the memories of her as an innocent little girl…the days when she wasn't so temptingly voluptuous and entirely corruptible. Goddess, how he wished that she had stayed a little girl. Why did she have to mature and distort their once friendly and innocent relationship?

It took almost every effort on his part to put himself back in control and force his mind back into the present to the question he had asked her. He closed his eyes, gulped unnoticeably, and breathed deeply—a simple way to bury his urges and desires.

Seeing that she was still in her own little world of thoughts and concerns, he lithely moved forward, and much against his better judgment, his fingers reached forward to grasp her chin delicately, alerting her attention back to him. "Hinata," Was it just him, or did his voice sound husky?

Her eyes brightened as she returned to the present, and widened upon looking at him, and realizing that she had drifted off. "Itachi, I…" she paused seeing his eyes glint with heated intensity.

He hated how his body tensed with yearning just at hearing her say his name.

"I'm sorry, I, um…What was it that you asked me again?"

Still struggling to keep his irritating desires at bay, he kept trying to focus on the conversation at hand, and speaking of hand, he still hadn't moved his from under her chin. He wasn't going to yet, either. "Tell me what happened to you last night." Seeing her confusion, he elaborated, his voice carrying an unusual sensual lilt. "You were in danger."

"Oh…" she murmured in recollection. "Um, well…" she gulped and licked her lips, noticing that his eyes followed the movement and it made her stomach flip with inexperienced excitement. "One of the half-demons at the temple lost control, and…" _I can't think when he's staring at me like that. _"I accidentally got involved to where, um…he noticed me and tried to attack me, but…I was saved and I wasn't injured."

When he spoke, his voice seemed distant, even to his own ears. "Your protector actually did his job."

"Not my guardian…it was Sasuke who saved me."

Suddenly, Itachi's face turned cold in expression as the previous intense heat disappeared from his blood-red eyes. His hand also returned to his side with stiff formality.

Seeing this, Hinata stopped with confusion at his sudden distance, and mentally backtracked to what she had just said, realizing that she had mentioned his half-brother's name, which was proving to be very taboo in Itachi's presence. An apology was ready and waiting on her lips, but was never released since she really had nothing to apologize for.

"Tell me the reason why you felt fear the second time. It was early this morning." He continued his questioning as if the previous occurrence never happened.

She hesitated, feeling dejected at his sudden closed-off expression. Before she answered, she tried to mimic his cool reserve, or whatever it took to slow her thudding heartbeat. "That…That was because of Sasuke…" she murmured quietly, glancing away since she was afraid to see his reaction. If she knew anything at all about her demon friend, she knew that he would not take kindly to the next explanation.

He felt a sense of shame radiating from the pendant, which was not a good sign for what was to come, as if her saying Sasuke's name wasn't bad enough. He tried to keep the threatening venom out of his words, but it still leaked through. "What did he do?"

Seeing the promise of pain in his eyes, she spoke quickly with panic. "He didn't hurt me." She paused, relaxing at seeing the threat in his eyes disappear with relief. "He just…Well," this was the part she was dreading the most. "He saw this." She motioned to the necklace, holding the pendant with her thumb and forefinger.

"And?" he pressed.

"I think he recognized it as being yours, because…he asked me about you, if I knew where you were, telling me that you were dangerous, and…"

He saw her gaze move downward in contemplation, which made her completely miss the way his eyes glittered with vengeance and his hands fist at his sides. What she said next, however, made him pause in his plan to terminate his brother.

"He said that you killed his family and destroyed his village, his home. He was only a child." Her brows lowered, creating a delicate crease between them. "Is that true?"

"Yes," he didn't hesitate in his reply, feeling no need to be ashamed of what he was. "I killed his mother and our father and then burned his village to the ground. My half-brother is fortunate to have been spared."

She shook her head mutely. Despite that she knew that he was a demon and it was in his nature to kill and destroy, it still bothered her to think that her beloved demon friend would do such a thing, and to his own relations no less. "Why did you do it?"

And just like that, his guard was up…same as the last time. "Get back in your position. We'll start your training from the beginning."

Hinata felt irritated and…angry. It made her stay unmovable. Quietly, she murmured. "How is it that you can know everything about me, but you only allow me to know certain things about you?" Seeing that he just stared at her, she continued. "Is it because you don't want to talk about it, or because you don't trust me enough to tell me?"

He could easily see and sense the sincerity and honest inquiry in her question, the way that she was obviously misunderstanding his reasons. She was slightly angry with him, too, which both surprised and amused him to no end. He was tempted to smirk or laugh, but did neither, knowing that it would probably only make matters worse. Then again…he did wonder what she was like when _really_ angry, possibly furious. What an arousing thought. A tempting one, too.

At his prolonged silence, Hinata felt even more irritation boil inside of her. She didn't get angry often, but recently, it was becoming easier to do so, and she assumed that it was because of her lack of sleep and the endless stress. Whatever the case, she felt it, and she didn't have the slightest bit of experience in knowing how to deal with it or control it. Despite all that, her tone of voice still remained soft. "Do you trust me, Itachi?"

With clear amusement, he replied. "Not in the least."

She frowned, though it came out looking like a pout. Then, her expression cooled into a frosty calm. "I see." She turned around, masking her inner hurt, and began to slowly trudge toward the part of the forest that would lead her back to the Konoha wall.

His amusement died a quick death at seeing her unexpected coldness. "Where are you going?"

"It's late. I should probably go home now."

Considering she had only been out there with him for barely two hours, her statement obviously made him bristle with equal irritation.

One step into the dense forestry was as far as she managed to go before he appeared in front of her, his expression showing his dislike of her idea of leaving so soon. Of all the things he could've said to her at that moment, all that came out was a statement that they both knew to be true. "You were being serious."

Her eyes widened in disbelief. Of course she was being serious! Did he think she was joking? She didn't think he even knew what a joke was, much less expect one from her! "I was." She replied, her frowning pout returning full force.

For one strange second, he was highly tempted to either laugh or pull her against him and— "The past that I have with that half-demon brother of mine is not something that I like to discuss with anyone."

Gradually, her gaze softened with a twinge of shame at her behavior. "I'm sorry," Feeling chastised, she continued in a more muted tone. "It really wasn't my business to ask, so I shouldn't have…demanded an answer…" her head lowered in embarrassment. "It was stupid of me…"

It was silent as she waited for some type of response, and when one still wasn't forthcoming, she dared to look up at him and was pleasantly surprised to finally take notice of the gentle amusement in his eyes, which was made more prominent by his barely noticeable smirk. Seeing it made her smile softly at him, while her heart swelled with comfortable happiness.

Watching with careful focus, he saw her slowly come closer to him until her arms wrapped around him, her hands at his back, their bodies touching, and her cheek pressed against his chest, her smile remaining on her mouth.

She wanted to tell him that she loved him, like she did as a child, but chose to remain silent and enjoy the embrace instead, since it happened so rarely.

At the same time, one of his hands fell to rest against her back, feeling the contours beneath her gown, the touch urging him to feel more of her. "Do you still wish to return to the temple?" he refused to call it her home.

When he felt her head shake as a response, he couldn't help feeling pleased about it, knowing that she preferred to stay with him instead.

That brought to mind his continual thoughts of having her stay with him permanently, and it made him wonder if she would. Staying with him for longer periods of time at night was one thing, but would she actually be willing to leave her home entirely?

"You don't have to return if you don't wish for it." He murmured quietly.

Furrowing her brows, she looked up at him questioningly. "I don't wish for that."

As if debating how to next word his response, he hesitated before speaking again. "I can give you the opportunity to never have to return to the temple, or your village for that matter. The next time I leave, you don't have to stay behind."

"You would let me come with you?" It made her feel giddy at seeing his nod, knowing that he was offering her the chance to stay with him forever. At the same time, however, she knew that it would mean that she would never be able to return to her home, to her temple family. But then, something else occurred to her. He said the next he left, which meant that…he was going to leave again? "You're going to leave?"

"I will have to, yes."

"Another campaign?"

"No," he paused. "I will have to relocate now that the humans are scouting the area. I can't stay in this place for long without them discovering my presence, or the fact that more of their comrades are disappearing because of me. It'll raise suspicion if I stay too long."

She understood. She really did. But, that didn't detract from the terrible feeling she had of him leaving her once again. She didn't want to be left behind…not again. "I would like very much to go with you, but…" she glanced away, her arms still remaining around him in an embrace. "I don't know if I could live without seeing my friends ever again."

And there was the problem, the same one that he knew would be there when he asked. "My leaving is inevitable, so at some point, you will have to make the choice to stay or leave with me."

Gaara was right. One day, she would have to make a choice between the two worlds that she loved. But how could she possibly make that kind of choice? It wasn't as simple as choosing between the human world and the demon world. The real choice was choosing between her temple family and the demon friend that she had loved for most of her life. At this point, she didn't think she could live without either. As selfish as it sounded, she wanted both.

Seeing her painful indecision, he decided to give her a temporary reprieve. "It is not something that should be decided now. I don't have to leave for awhile, so you have time to think about your decision." He saw her nod solemnly before he grasped onto her chin again, redirecting her gaze to his face. "Until then, we will continue your training."

That made her smile in relief. "I would like that."

He didn't nod or make a reply to that. Instead, his eyes focused more on the feel of her skin against his. His thumb had found its way to caressing her jawline, while his other fingers tasted the delicate skin on her throat. The desire-filled urges came back with a vengeance, knowing that he internally wanted to feel her skin in more ways than one.

"Itachi…" Hinata whispered, his touches making her heart race with need, and her eyes glaze over. _Please… _Whether he would or not, she couldn't ignore how much she wanted him to at least kiss her. She never wanted that from Neji, but from Itachi…? She definitely wanted that.

Itachi refused to move, despite how much he wanted to, and how much he felt he needed to. It was so incredibly difficult, though. He thought killing his father had been difficult—this was so much worse.

It would be so easy to take and claim her, but he had to fight against it. The slightest error on his part could potentially ruin what they had been building together for ten years. She would not mind it, of course, when it was happening. But afterward, she could very well come to hate him or resent him for taking advantage of her. As a demon, he shouldn't have cared, but he did, because it wasn't just any human—it was _her_, and that changed everything.

With more willpower than he thought he possessed, he removed his hand from her jaw, and made her release her arms from around him. Distance was what they needed. Of course, when they were no longer touching, he didn't miss the surprise in her face and the way it morphed into a type of lost expression, as if she didn't know where she was. There was obvious disappointment there, too, which made him feel a twinge of pride at knowing that she _wanted _him almost nearly as much as he wanted her.

What a predicament. Perhaps he should've never returned to her. At least then, his brain wouldn't be shutting down so often.

With that, he grunted before telling her to continue training since they didn't have much time left before she would have to return.

Not knowing what else to say, Hinata obeyed and they continued the training.

Meanwhile, Itachi had to remind himself to not touch her more than he needed to, and Hinata had to stop thinking about what could've happened just a moment ago, and how much she wished that it did happen.

It was going to be hell from this point forward, and they both knew it.

* * *

**I kind of had this whole chapter planned out, but for some reason, it took a different turn since I pretty much let the characters plan it for me. It's fine by me, of course. They have better ideas than I do.**

**Anyway, I apologize for the **_**very **_**late update. I'm seriously writing every chance I get, but those chances do not come as often as I would like (unfortunately).**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and if you have time, leave me some love :)**

**Another huge thanks to my reviewers! Love you guys!**

**See ya next chapter!**

**-Tranquilwriter**


	26. Devotion

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**NOTE: The song that the deities perform in this chapter was inspired by the solos in Yanni's "For All Seasons"**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XXV**

**Devotion**

* * *

"_There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable."_

_-Mark Twain_

"_The soul that can speak through the eyes can also kiss with a gaze."_

_-Gustavo Adolfo Becquer_

* * *

The next few weeks passed by until finally, it was the night of the deities' performance.

The weeks prior, however, were a mixture of both pleasure and displeasure. For starters, Sasuke was incredibly frustrated by his lack of progress with Hinata. So far, he hadn't found a single moment to get her alone. Neji was with her for almost every moment of the day, and for the few moments that he wasn't, she was either surrounded by the other deities or just Temari. Then, at night, Gaara guarded her room to the point where Sasuke couldn't find a point in even trying. The young deity was never left alone, it seemed, and the only way to get answers from her was to get her _alone_.

What was even more frustrating was the knowledge that even though Naruto agreed with Sasuke's evidence, the blonde disagreed that Hinata was hiding anything bad. Apparently, he had Naruto's support, but only to a certain extent.

Gaara, for his part, kept pretty active, what with keeping an eye on Temari as well as Hinata. He also hadn't slept in a while, fearing that the moment he did sleep, Sasuke would strike. Both Hinata and Temari had reprimanded him in their own ways—one gentle, the other fierce—each one telling him that he needed to sleep before he ended up crashing in the middle of training or something. They didn't have to tell him that since he already knew well enough that he needed to rest. However, priorities came first.

Kakashi and Asuma had finally returned, but many other warriors were still kept out in the forests to scout for anything demon related. They had suffered some casualties, but were never able to find the bodies or the murderer behind it. They continued to scout anyway.

Then there was Itachi and Hinata.

Their training continued without delay, and Hinata had improved tremendously; so much so that she would sometimes spar with Neji just to see how much better she had gotten. Her quick advancement both delighted and confused Kurenai, who remained in pleasant disbelief at how quickly Hinata was adapting to her fighting style (as if she was becoming an expert overnight).

Other than that, though, the relationship between Itachi and Hinata had gradually worsened with tension as each day passed. Normally, such tension could be dismissed or dealt with easily, but considering that the tension derived from something more primitive with lustful desire…it was getting harder and harder to resist…for Itachi anyway.

Itachi wanted her, but he was slowly coming to find out that he didn't _just _want her body—it wasn't _just _her body that his blood was calling out for. It was everything. He wanted every part of her that she had to offer, and even if she didn't offer, he still wanted it.

He was also gradually starting to forget what was stopping him from taking what he wanted.

As for Hinata, it was complicated on a different level. Having never experienced attraction or desire for another person before, she was quite lost as to what she was supposed to do—suppress it or act on it? Did she even have a choice? She thought that she did or that she would, but the second that Itachi touched her or looked at her with that strange heat in his eyes, she couldn't think straight. Her heart would pound against her chest to the point where she would wonder if he could hear it. Her breath would get heavy, and she wouldn't be able to think anything more than how she wanted to get closer to him—she wanted more.

It was somewhat frightening to realize how much she wanted and needed him—a certain something that she couldn't put a name to, couldn't understand.

It was a feeling that seemed to come out of nowhere and so suddenly that it made her wonder if it was only because she was older and more mature. Or, perhaps, it had always been there since she was a child. Perhaps, the feeling itself just matured.

Matured into what, though?

In the early hours of the morning, when it seemed that all were still asleep, Hinata wandered through the hallways and corridors with aimless direction. She had been feeling so restless lately that she wasn't able to stay asleep as long as she would have preferred, so instead, she would find herself wandering around the temple with nothing but confused thoughts on her mind.

She didn't want to keep doing this, however. She hated not knowing what she was feeling or how to deal with it. So, it came to the point where she stopped walking and looked upwards at the bedroom door in front of her. Hesitantly, she knocked ever so lightly at the wooden door, backing away soon after with her gaze on the floor. She waited.

Just when she was about to turn around and leave, thinking that it was too early to be bothering anyone, the knob turned and the door cracked open only enough for a head to peek around in tired curiosity. "Hina?"

Temari's voice was sleep-ridden and her eyes were squinted, along with her hair being messy. If the nightgown was anything to go by, Hinata had just woken her friend. "I…" she felt ashamed now. "I'm sorry to have woken you—"

Temari furrowed her brows before rubbing at her eyes with the back of her hand. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just…um," she was floundering for words. "I was just wondering if you wanted to go to the baths with me, but you don't have to, of course."

"Hina," Temari gave her a deadpan stare. "It's not even sunrise. What are you doing up this early?" she paused, seeing that she wasn't going to get an answer anytime soon. "Are you okay?"

When Hinata still didn't answer and only glanced everywhere but at her, Temari sighed in exasperation. "Give me a minute." With that, the blonde closed the door behind her, obviously disappearing into her room.

Not a minute later, Temari reappeared, hugging the door close to her as if trying to shield Hinata from looking inside. Closing the door behind her, she motioned for Hinata to start walking. "Let's go."

The walk to the baths was silent. In fact, it wasn't until they had both been relaxing in the water for a while that the silence was finally broken.

"Hina," Temari began, alerting the dark-haired girl's attention to her concerned gaze. "What's going on? Are you not sleeping well or something?"

"I guess…" Hinata's gaze became unfocused as she stared at the rippling water. "I'm confused…about, um…"

"Is this about Neji?" Temari supplied helpfully.

Hinata shook her head. "He…We talked a couple weeks ago, and…I told him that I couldn't return his feelings."

Temari arched a brow. "How'd he take it?"

She smiled sadly in reply. "He was hurt, but…I think he understood."

Temari smiled proudly. "See? I knew you'd do the right thing, eventually. And I got to give Neji props for not blowing up at you or deciding to end your friendship." Her eyes narrowed. "A lot of guys do that, which is just plain pathetic, by the way."

Hinata repressed the urge to giggle.

Temari looked over Hinata analytically, feeling as though she was playing a guessing game. "So, if it's not Neji…Is it a guy?"

The young deity hesitated before nodding.

"Are you going to tell me who?"

Morosely, she shook her head.

Temari sighed. "Fine…but you will tell me one day, right?"

Hinata looked up at her and smiled with a quick nod.

"Good. So what's the problem? Do you like this guy?"

"I love him very much." She replied timidly.

"Okay…" Temari was about to ask another question, but Hinata finally started to open up to the conversation.

"But, it's different." She began with obvious confusion written on her expression. "My feelings are different…" she paused in struggle. "I don't know how to describe it."

"Alright then," Temari leaned forward slightly. "Let's get straight to the point. Do you want him to kiss you?"

Hinata blushed heavily, but reluctantly nodded slowly.

Temari's smile turned sly. "Has he touched you? Nothing sexual, just…like a hug or something?"

Another nod and the blush reddened further.

"Did you like it?" Temari saw that instead of replying, Hinata only lowered her head as her blush began to spread over her face, which made the older girl laugh. "I'll take that as a yes." She crossed her arms, drumming her fingers against her skin. "Do you want to have sex with him?"

"Temari!" Hinata exclaimed, hiding her face in her hands.

The blonde laughed louder. "Should I take that as a 'yes' too?" At her friend's embarrassed whimper, she laughed again. "Okay, okay…no more sex questions for the virgin."

"Thank you…" came the quiet and muffled reply.

"So, let's summarize." Temari inhaled deeply. "You love this guy, but it also sounds like you're very attracted to him, too. In that case, there's only one more question I have to ask."

Hinata was almost afraid to ask. "Which is?"

Temari's gaze turned softer. "Could you live without him?"

Needless to say, Hinata didn't have a quick answer for that. She instinctually wanted to say 'no', even though her mind told her that she could just as well survive without him. Whether she could or couldn't, it didn't matter. What mattered most to her was how it made her feel just to think about not having him around ever again. She didn't want to live without him…And being honest with herself, she knew that she _needed _him in her life. He was _necessary_…more so than anyone she'd ever known.

With a soft smile of surrender, Hinata met her friend's gaze evenly. "I don't think I can."

Temari smiled as well while lifting herself from the water and preparing to get out. She passed by Hinata on her way out and placed a comforting and sympathetic hand on her shoulder. "You're in love, Hina." Her smiled suddenly became rueful. "Welcome to my world of misery."

* * *

So, she was in love with Itachi, huh?

Well…at least it made sense, and it definitely clicked in her mind the way that a puzzle fits together with all its pieces.

But, why did she feel happy about it for only a moment before she practically sank into despair?

Wasn't love supposed to make you feel lighter than air?

At first, it did feel that way…until it came to her attention that she was in love with a demon, and not just that, but a very powerful demon as well.

A demon that felt nothing besides the thirst for human blood and destruction…

A demon that was probably incapable of feeling what she felt…That was why she felt such trepidation about the new discovery. What was the point of falling in love with a demon that couldn't possibly return those feelings? Was this how Neji felt?

After Temari and Hinata finished bathing, the older deity departed back to her room, and Hinata noticed that even though the sun had risen, it was still quite early. In fact, breakfast wasn't supposed to begin for another hour or two, and she suspected that at least most of the temple residents were still sleeping, something she would've been doing if her mind wasn't so preoccupied.

So, to occupy herself until she would have to adjourn to the dining room, she walked aimlessly through the silent hallways of the temple. If she had any direction in mind, it would be to head to the courtyard. To do that, she chose to venture down a hallway that would sweep past most of the deities' bedrooms, including hers.

With her hands clasped together behind her back and her eyes gazing at the floor, she walked toward the corner that she would have to turn around at in order to find herself in the aforementioned hallway.

When she did turn that corner, however, she halted and widened her eyes at the sight she saw, which made her retreat a few steps and hide behind the corner. Flitting her eyes around nervously, she reasoned that she hadn't been seen nor heard, so ignoring her inner protests to ignore what she saw and walk away, she ended up peeking around the corner curiously, as if to confirm that she did in fact see her friend and Shikamaru in an interesting embrace.

Sure enough, there was the couple, standing just outside Temari's bedroom, their arms entwined around each other, and their lips locked passionately. It made Hinata's eyes widen once again, especially since she noticed that Shikamaru was wearing the same clothes he had worn the previous day. _He stayed the night with Temari? _The thought made her blush and finally decide to walk away and take a different route to the courtyard.

Minutes later, she had calmed from the embarrassment of seeing her friend and her lover, and found herself in a familiar hallway, where large windows lined one side that allowed one to see outside. As Hinata walked, she kept her gaze focused outside the windows on the early morning light beautifully flooding the crisp green plant life of the courtyard.

Her focus was derailed when she caught sight of two occupants in the courtyard, and as she peered closer to the window, she saw that it was Tenten and Kankuro. Tenten was sitting cross-legged before one of Kankuro's puppets, a tool in one hand and the seemingly broken puppet arm in the other. Her brow was furrowed and concentrated as she applied the tool to the broken part.

Behind the brunette was Kankuro, who was on his knees and leaning over her with a tender smile, occasionally speaking to her, to which she would nod or reply back verbally. As Hinata continued to watch, she saw Kankuro lean closer to his deity and place his hands over hers to demonstrate how to fix a certain part of the puppet arm. While Tenten continued to look focused on her work, Kankuro's loving smile never turned from her direction.

Seeing it made Hinata smile softly at the subtle show of affection between the two. As she walked forward to rest her hands against the windowsill, she couldn't help wondering if that was what being in love looked like. Would her and Itachi ever be like that? Did they ever look like that when he was teaching her how to fight?

Two hands suddenly fell next to her own on the windowsill, and the arms came next to hers, effectively caging her in from behind. She tensed, not knowing who it was, though the person was decidedly male, and she could feel his chest within an inch of her back. Glancing down at his hands that were clenching onto the sill, she saw the tattoo-like demon marking on his left wrist, and it made her heart flutter in panic at realizing that it was Sasuke who was standing behind her.

His mouth came to her ear, his dark hair brushing against hers. "It's a rare occurrence to find you alone, and now that I have…I'm not going to pass it up."

She repressed the tremors that wanted to run up and down her spine, and instead kept her gaze on her shaking hands and his oh-so-calm ones. "I don't have anything to tell you, Sasuke."

The muscles twitched beneath the skin on his forearms as he seemed to obviously tense at her words. "Don't lie to me. It's only a waste of your time and mine."

"I don't know anything." She murmured quietly, only to feel surprised at hearing and feeling his breathy chuckle against her ear.

"There you go again. You lie a lot for someone who can't do it very well." He paused. "Which makes me suspect that you're hiding something that must be very important to you; otherwise, you wouldn't be lying so much…and avoiding me as well."

Hinata couldn't seem to stop her heart from beating so quickly and frantically. Perhaps if she just didn't say anything at all, he would go away. Or, maybe not. He didn't seem like the type to back away easily, and that was not comforting at the moment.

His voice became quieter. "Tell me where he is. I know that you know."

"I can't," she replied without thinking.

He didn't speak right away, feeling somewhat shocked that she was finally saying something that resembled the answer he was looking for. "Why not?"

She bit her lip, as if that could stop her from saying anything, but despite that, she knew that she wasn't going to be let go until she gave him the information he required. But, that would mean betraying Itachi, or then again, it could also mean trouble for Sasuke. Gulping, she turned slightly towards him so that she could see his face and look into his black eyes with pleading. "He'll kill you."

Emotion flickered within his endlessly black eyes as he realized that she was not just stating a fact, but warning him as well.

Her lips pursed tightly before she murmured. "I…wouldn't want to see you hurt, because of me…"

His eyes widened a small degree. Was she trying to protect him? He knew that his brother was incredibly strong, especially since he was able to kill his father, and it appeared that Hinata knew that, too. She knew it so well that she was trying to make sure that Sasuke would never have to experience that firsthand, because he would get badly injured, if not killed. She obviously didn't want that.

Despite how he had never treated her with kindness, or anything resembling it, she still seemed concerned about his welfare. Needless to say, it was strange for him to find out that he was suddenly feeling the same about her, which is why he had to ask. "What has he done to you? Has he hurt you in any way?"

She smiled briefly before it quickly disappeared from her expression. "No…though, I know he could if he wanted to. But, I don't think he does."

Not only did his face reveal his skepticism, but his tone did as well. "You think he _cares _about you?"

She smiled again, though it was small. "Probably not nearly as much as I care about him."

His eyes narrowed in something akin to confusion. Then, he started to laugh without humor. "You must be more disillusioned than I thought. The Itachi I remember would _never _even think of caring about any creature with human blood."

A crease formed between her two brows. "I believe he does."

"Then we're not talking about the same one."

"Yes, we are," she persisted softly. Seeing his immovable expression, she thought perhaps that a description might work. "He has dark hair like yours…though his is longer."

He continued to stare at her, not saying anything, just listening with silent disbelief.

"His eyes are red, like rubies…Yours are like onyx, I suppose." She glanced over his features, while picturing her demon's features in her mind. "And he's a little taller than you, but not by much."

His eyes widened when she leaned closer to softly touch the skin between his nose and eye. "He has lines here, like he never sleeps…even though I know he does."

Sasuke gulped. "My father had those."

She smiled, still focused on the lines that were not on his face, as if she was caressing Itachi's face and not his. "It must be hereditary then." Her smile grew as she found his gaze. "You must resemble your mother more."

She started to remove her touch from his face, but he grasped onto her wrist in mid-air between them. His gaze never tore from hers. "What is he to you?"

She hesitated, as if trying to figure that out for herself, but ended up replying. "He's my friend."

He seemed tempted to shake his head, but instead moved closer, invading whatever space was between them. "He's more to you than that."

Surprise filled her expression.

"Which is why that makes you incredibly stupid." He saw her hurt look, and quickly continued. "Or ignorant. I can't decide which."

"Because he's a demon?" she asked quietly.

"Well, that's the obvious answer, isn't it?" his tone was scornful, and yet his hand never released its restricting hold on her wrist, though it was not painful. "Whatever connection he has with you, it's not what you think it is. It's _never _what you think it is. He has some type of ulterior motive for keeping you around, and that doesn't mean well for the rest of us, does it?"

"He wouldn't—" she gulped, adamant about defending her demon friend. "He wouldn't do that to me."

Sasuke shook his head, as if in pity. "Then you know nothing about his true nature." His face seemed softer in expression now, almost like he was sympathizing with her. He pulled her closer, placing his mouth back next to her ear in order to whisper warningly. "He will make you believe whatever you want to believe, but don't fall for it. You'll only get hurt in the end."

Her brows furrowed. "Did that happen to you?" Judging by how he suddenly tensed, she would guess that was the affirmative. "What did he make you believe?"

Sasuke was quiet, making her wonder if he was just going to ignore her question, but his reluctant answer finally came. "He made me believe that we were family…" he backed away to look into her eyes. "But he ended up killing mine." He watched silently as her eyes revealed such sadness, which for some reason, made his chest swell pleasantly. "Hinata, you can't keep allow—" he stopped mid-sentence and tilted his head slightly to the side, listening. "Shit."

Hinata watched confusedly as he backed away from her, glancing at her with narrowed eyes, while he fit his hands into his pockets casually. "Same time tomorrow." He muttered and turned to walk down the hallway in front of her. Just as he turned a corner, she heard someone call out her name from behind.

Turning around, she saw Neji coming toward her with a worried, yet relieved gaze. "There you are."

"I'm sorry, is it time for breakfast already?" she asked apologetically.

"Yes. You weren't in your room." He stated, though the question was implied.

"I woke up early, so," she laughed quietly. "I've been wandering."

He nodded slowly before shaking his head and laughing below his breath. "Well, let's go then." He held out his hand to her, which she took easily.

"Right,"

* * *

It didn't take long for Hinata to start questioning herself as to why she told Sasuke all that she did. Perhaps it was because she was in the moment and wasn't thinking clearly, or maybe, she just (at the time) _felt _that she could tell Sasuke those things.

His reaction to it all surprised her. She had expected his reaction to involve him screaming at her to tell him where Itachi was and then he'd kill her afterward, or just kill her without question. What she wasn't expecting to see was how strangely accepting he was, and perhaps even sympathetic.

He believed that she was being fooled by Itachi, just like he apparently had been in the past. And if one thing was for sure, their conversation was far from over. Sasuke wasn't going to stop until he had all the information that she hid within herself.

It was a scary notion, but she didn't know what else to do. She had gotten herself in this mess; she needed to learn how to get out of it…or work through it.

After all, despite his cold demeanor, Sasuke hadn't made any motions about hurting her. He meant her no harm; he just wanted answers.

A part of Hinata didn't mind telling Sasuke about Itachi—up to a certain point. For instance, she refused to tell Sasuke where Itachi was. Either way, perhaps she might get a few answers out of this deal, too.

Itachi was very close-mouthed about the past that he shared with his brother. Perhaps Sasuke would be willing to share more.

* * *

"Ladies, are you ready?" Kurenai asked, watching three of the deities tune their instruments and the other two stretching their limbs.

Temari released her arm from the hold behind her back. "We're as ready as we're going to be."

"I'll let them in, then." Kurenai smiled before turning to the door to the music room to let the rest of the temple residents into the room as well.

Chairs were already set out, which mostly everyone took advantage of, save for Kakashi, Sasuke, and Gaara, who preferred to lean against the wall. It was a bustle of activity as all were getting situated, and the deities were quite surprised to see the village leader and his protégé there as well.

Stopping her stretching, Temari stood and edged toward Hinata to nudge her shoulder. "Hey," she whispered, motioning over to the green-eyed man. "What's he doing here?"

Hinata noticed the man, who was helping the elderly leader into a seat before sitting down himself. He seemed friendly and easily-approachable, but he also gave off the feeling that he had…rough edges, so to speak—something horrible bubbling just beneath his regal appearance. Outwardly, Hinata just looked at Temari with innocent inquiry. "You mean Yukio?"

Temari frowned at her. "Well, I sure as hell don't mean Lord Sarutobi." She paused, turning her attention back to the young man. "I don't like him. It's hard to believe that he's supposed to be our future leader."

"Why don't you like him?" Hinata asked meekly.

"I just don't." She replied without hesitation.

"Maybe…" Hinata murmured. "He's not as bad as you think."

Temari narrowed her eyes before shrugging it off. "Maybe. Whatever." She spotted Shikamaru and quickly went up to him, convincing him to sit in a chair that was closely separated from the rest of the group.

A few minutes later, the girls were stationed in their positions and were ready to begin. Kurenai silenced the audience and nodded for the girls to begin.

It began slowly, but quickly picked up speed as Hinata, Sakura, and Ino played together and Tenten and Temari began to dance in synchronized movements. They played the same basic harmony for a certain duration of time, as if warming up before the solos would start.

In a sudden break of music, Ino began her flute solo, keeping her eyes closed as if lost in the moment. It was fast-paced and accentuated just how much Ino had progressed with her instrument. When she ended it, she bowed with a smug smile. The smile grew when she saw Naruto stand up from his seat to clap and cheer her on, while the rest merely sat in their seats and clapped, save for Gaara and Sasuke, who just watched with their arms crossed.

Hinata and Sakura began to play together, so that Tenten and Temari could perform another dance. They stopped soon after, only for Temari to stand in the center and Ino to start playing again. It was Temari's dance solo, and needless to say, it was slightly raunchy in the eyes of the older adults.

Temari's dance started off symbolizing the wind, and was emphasized by the fans she used and the way that her body twirled around. However, that began to change into something more seductive as her teal eyes settled on Shikamaru, and she moved her way over to him, bending and twisting her body around him. Her hands glided over his shoulders and chest teasingly, and her eyes seemed to glint with mischief. All the while, Shikamaru could only gulp and attempt to hold onto his self-control…and by the goddess, he tried not to move.

Luckily for him, her solo came to an end, drawing her back to the center, where she finished with a flare, to which everyone applauded uncertainly. All the music stopped, only to be replaced by synchronized clapping as Tenten's solo began, and she had been right about making her own music.

She brought two long and thick wooden rods to the center of the floor, and used them as part of her dance as well as her beat to dance to. She used amazing acrobatics, flipping over the rods, twisting around them with fantastic flexibility, all the while making music with them. It was definitely a sight to see, and the way she ended had all there on the edge of their seats. She pounded the rods to the ground and jumped up until her feet were on the tops, balancing gracefully before delivering a skilled backflip off of it, hitting the ground and bowing.

Just like Naruto, Kankuro stood and clapped and whistled, sitting back down before it became Sakura's turn.

Sakura stepped forward with a smug smirk, and as soon as the previous applause died down, she started off on a fast note, her violin solo being intense and eye-catching.

Lee stood to cheer for her, but was quickly silenced and pushed back down by Naruto, who glared at him. "At least wait till she's done!"

"Yes, of course!"

Sakura's fingers flitted blurrily over the strings, pressing, releasing, and moving with amazing speed. Finally, when she finished with a bow, Lee was able to cheer for her as exuberantly as he wished, to which Sakura blushed the color of her hair.

Trampling on her nerves, Hinata began her solo, which meant that the entire performance was coming to an end. She was so used to playing songs more slow and elegant that she wasn't surprised to see the others' shock at how equally fast-paced her solo was as the other deities. In fact, like Sakura, her fingers moved over the strings with such speed that it would almost seem like a blur of movement. She plucked and plucked, going faster and faster before brushing her fingers over all of the strings in reach, and then beginning again.

It was so upbeat that it had almost everyone clapping their hands to match the rhythm. Neji was smiling in pride, and if anyone looked, they would notice Gaara's small smirk. Sasuke was even enjoying it up until Kakashi nudged him. Glancing over, Sasuke saw the gray-haired man clapping and nudging for Sasuke to do the same, to which the younger man merely scowled and looked away. "Come on, Sasuke. Get into it."

"No," he glared at him again. "You're an embarrassment to warriors everywhere."

Kakashi pouted. "You're so mean."

As Hinata came to the end of her solo, she kept playing and Sakura soon joined in, followed by Ino until all three were playing together for the finale. Tenten and Temari went back to their dancing, and they all built up speed and then ended it in a flourish. Each of them stood up straight and bowed, relishing in the loud applause, whistles, and calls from their friends. Temari ran over to Hinata as soon as they stopped bowing and flung an arm around her shoulders. Sakura was bombarded by Lee, and Ino soaked up every compliment that Naruto gave her. Kankuro was seen embracing Tenten and giving her a congratulatory kiss.

Gaara, Neji, and Shikamaru approached Temari and Hinata, offering their congratulations and compliments as well. During which, a hand landed on Temari's shoulder, diverting her attention to the smiling village leader. "You girls did very well. I'm very impressed."

Temari smiled. "You should be, old man. It's taken us over ten years to get this good."

"Rightly so,"

Yukio came forward with a disarming smile. "Congratulations. My Lord was right, that was very impressive."

Even though Temari looked away without a word, Hinata smiled back at him graciously. "Thank you,"

Yukio's green eyes fell to the young, dark-haired deity. "Hinata, right?"

"Yes," her smile stayed constant, not noticing the way Neji inched closer to her in a very territorial manner.

Yukio's smile stayed constant as well as he further addressed her. "How is the pavilion working out for you? I haven't gone in a while."

"It's going very well, thank you."

"Ah, that's good to hear." He paused. "If you don't mind the intrusion, I would very much like to come observe again in the near future."

"Oh no, I wouldn't mind at all."

Neji glared. "I mean no disrespect, but if you become a distraction, we would have to remove you." The warning was emphasized with his menacing tone.

"Of course," Yukio's tone and expression showed nothing but professionalism. "I wouldn't dream of distracting our village healer." His eyes found hers again. "She is very much needed here, as are all the deities."

With another smile and congratulations, he left with the village leader to speak to the others.

In his absence, Hinata looked over to Neji, seeing his distrusting gaze follow after the future leader. She sighed. "You don't like him either, do you?"

Neji turned to her, his hardened gaze softening. "What's to like?"

"He's very nice and polite."

Neji snorted unintentionally. "That doesn't mean he's trustworthy."

Hinata bit her lip before replying. "But Lord Sarutobi trusts him. Isn't that enough?"

Like Temari did before, Neji shrugged noncommittally. "I suppose it has to be until we get to know him better."

The conversation ended as soon as the others joined them in animated conversation, and the gathering didn't end until the adults had to usher them out of the room and towards their bedrooms.

* * *

It wasn't until the temple activity settled down into a lull that Itachi appeared at Hinata's balcony. When she saw him, she smiled widely and came close to running up to him eagerly. "Were you able to hear us?"

"I was," he smirked at seeing her excited smile. "You have improved."

She giggled. "It has been ten years, so I would certainly hope so."

"Mm,"

Hinata's smile began to fade nervously when she saw his eyes gaze upon her in familiar heated intensity. It was the same look that was becoming a little too normal lately. Gulping and inhaling shakily, she tried to smile more naturally. "Should we go?"

"Yes," he held his hand out for her to take, which she did, waiting for him to pick her up into his arms fluidly before leaving her room and the temple behind.

When they arrived in the meadow, Hinata found herself full of energy, and most likely from the excitement of the performance. She was particularly excited to begin training, especially since she was starting to become a very proficient fighter.

Facing Itachi, she smiled. "I sparred with Neji again today. He said that I'm getting a lot better."

The red-eyed demon nodded once. "Were you able to hit him?"

"Only twice." Her smile lessened as her shoulders lifted in a shrug.

"Where?"

"Mm," she tilted her head as if trying to remember. "The first time in his shoulder and the second time in his stomach."

"Good. Was he in pain?" he was inwardly hopeful about that, but refrained from showing that on his face.

Her brows furrowed. "Well, no, of course not. I didn't want to hurt him. We both made sure to keep our hits light."

It was Itachi's turn to furrow his brows. "Humans must spar differently from demons, then."

"I think it was just me." She explained. "When the other guardians and security force spar against each other, they don't hold back, but I think because it was me that Neji was sparring against…"

"He went easy on you." He finished, non-too-happily.

Her bottom lip pouted slightly. "Probably."

As he approached her to begin her training, he remarked, "From now on, you should spar against someone who will not go easy on you. Otherwise, you will not learn or get better."

"Okay…" she situated into her beginning fighting stance as he stood before her expectantly.

Without allowing for any further conversation, Itachi removed his cloak to throw onto the ground not too far away, revealing his leather vest—the only armor covering his chest—and his dark pants and boots. "Begin,"

Narrowing her eyes in concentration, she moved forward into their typical style of training, which always began as a spar so that Itachi could assess the areas that needed further work and conditioning. Only then would he begin the instruction part of the training, which used to be a very hands-on moment, but due to recent tension, he seemed to avoid it all-together.

Punches and kicks flew at him in rapid succession, each of which was easily blocked or deflected by his own hands. As always, he had to actively ignore the way it felt every time that his fingers brushed against the soft skin on her hands and legs. She, too, had to ignore how much it made her heart skip a beat or increase in speed every time she felt his gently demanding touch.

This was why the tension wasn't disappearing. Although, they both supposed that even if they were to refrain from touching each other, the looks alone would have eventually done them in. Itachi hated having so little control over his bodily urges; it was literally taking every ounce of willpower he had to keep himself in check around her. He was going against his very nature by not answering those urges.

When demons wanted—craved—something, they didn't think twice about taking it. They were of the mindset to claim that something before someone or something else did. When it came to just about anything with demons, it was strictly on a first-come, first-served basis.

Hinata was what Itachi wanted. He knew that as well as his blood did. If it was anyone else, he wouldn't be hesitating and holding back so much. The only reason that he was doing so was because, as much as he didn't want to admit it, he was slightly…_cautious _about how such a "claiming" would change their relationship. He was hesitant, because he wasn't certain if she would end up hating him for it, which of course made him feel…_cautious_.

It was the only reason that he was holding back from doing anything, from doing exactly what he wanted and needed to do. But, by the goddess, he didn't think he could hold out for much longer. He was ashamed that his self-control was this weak when it came to her.

Oh well. He would not budge. He _refused _to budge. In fact, he wouldn't do anything. If she wanted what he wanted, then she would have to make the first move.

That was a comforting and irritating thought. Comforting, because it would help motivate him to keep himself in check. Irritating, because he knew her personality, which meant that he would probably have to wait a hell of a long time for her to get over her nerves and do something.

Hinata's inner thoughts weren't too far off from his own. As much as she tried to focus on their current spar, she couldn't stop hearing Temari's words echo around in her mind.

"_**You're in love, Hina."**_

That's right. She was in love with Itachi, her demon friend of over ten years.

That certainly changed things, especially since that now she knew what she truly felt for him, she had no idea what to do next. Was she supposed to tell him? That thought made her heart beat a little too fast, since for all she knew, he could just as easily reject her…and there would go their friendship.

She supposed that perhaps…it would be best to remain silent. Itachi meant too much to her for her to want to do anything that would end their connection. It never occurred to her that he might just hold the same feelings.

Hinata was beginning to understand what Temari meant when she said, "Welcome to my world of misery" (misery, of course, being the key word). This was way too complicated.

Then again, what if it _did _work out? What if she did confess her feelings and he just happened to return them? If so, she would leave with him. She would leave her temple home behind, and make a new home with Itachi. But then what? _I would be labeled a traitor, but would that mean the same for him?_

He obviously didn't seem too worried about it when he basically told her not too long ago that he wanted her to leave with him. She supposed that if it ever came to that, she would just have to trust him to know what he was doing. She knew that he cared enough about her to never let anything happen to her; that was for sure.

After that…would they…get married? That's what usually came in a relationship among humans, but considering that Itachi was definitely _not _a human by any standards…

Did demons even get married? Did they even know what marriage was?

Her eyebrows met together to form a crease between them in inner confusion, even while the spar continued. "Itachi?"

"What?" he replied snippily, not pleased that she wasn't focusing on the spar, even though he wasn't either.

"Do demons, um…I mean, should they ever want to, that is…um…" she gulped, seeing impatience enter his eyes. _Spit it out! _"Do demons ever get married?"

The spar ended with his hands wrapped around her wrists and both of them stopping in their tracks, while his surprisingly shocked expression met her blushing and inquiring one.

"What did you say?" Itachi didn't realize it, but his grip on her wrists had tightened slightly, as if not willing to let her back away.

Hinata bit her lip nervously. "I asked if demons ever get married…," she repeated slowly, uncertainly. At his silence, she hesitantly looked away before looking back at him again. "Do they?"

"That's a human custom when a man and woman are united through law, correct?"

She slowly nodded. "Something like that."

"Then, no." he answered. "Demons don't have that custom."

"Oh," Honestly, she didn't know what else to say.

Itachi noticed her downtrodden expression and felt pressured to add on to what she had been really asking. "Demons have a different custom."

Her face brightened. "They do?"

Still holding onto her wrists, he nodded. Although, inwardly, he was curious as to why she was asking in the first place. Marriage was on her mind, and the fact that she asked about demons…It made the edge of his mouth tilt upward. "Should two demons choose it, they mate. And that is not meant in a strictly sexual nature." He saw her blush, and resisted the urge to laugh. "It's considered to be a soul-binding contract, which means that if a demon chooses to mate, he or she is forever tied to their mate, never allowed to take another for as long as they live."

She understood, kind of. "But don't demons live for a very long time?"

Again, he nodded. "Which is why it is rare for a demon to mate."

"But they still reproduce…?"

He smirked. "That can be done without a soul-binding contract."

Ignoring another rising blush, she questioned further. "I don't understand how it's rare because they live for a long time."

"It's rare, because not many demons want to be with another, and only that other, for their entire lives."

That was a saddening explanation; at least, to her ears it was. How could demons be so…selfish? Although, she knew that humans could be selfish too in matters like that. To devote yourself to one person for your entire life was already a life-altering decision, but then add on to that the fact that the persons involved could live for centuries…? When it came to her and Itachi, or…_if _it came to her and Itachi, there was another matter to consider that did have to do with their lifetimes. Itachi had the ability to live on through the centuries, barely ever aging. While as a deity, Hinata could live twice as long as most humans, she still would never be able to live as long as Itachi.

She would age faster than him.

She would _die _before him.

When she would look old with age, he would look as young as he did currently.

If they ever mated (as he called it), would he still care for her or desire her when the time came for her to look old and aged? It was the possibility of eventual resentment that made her edge away from her previous thoughts of them ever being together.

Demons and humans were never supposed to get along…were never supposed to fall in love with the other. She was starting to understand the reason for that.

Much against his better judgment, Itachi released one of her wrists in order to brush his fingers against her cheek. "Hinata,"

His touch and voice brought her out of her reverie, feeling embarrassed at her having zoned out for a while. Meeting his eyes, she saw that slight sliver of concern there, before it was wiped clean. His fingers lingered against the soft, tempting skin of her face before he reluctantly moved away, distancing himself from her, no touching.

"Sorry," she laughed quietly under her breath—bashfully—before biting her lower lip. Teeth still gnawing on her lip, she looked up, seeing that his eyes followed every movement of her mouth. Seeing it made her heart quicken, especially when his red eyes flicked up to meet hers, and she could see a tangible heat filled with barely restrained longing. _That _made her inhale sharply with nothing but pleasure and unfamiliar need.

As his brain seemed to shut off for a moment, he stepped forward purposely, invading her space, but pulling back as if he was having some type of internal battle. His jaw and body tensed, his hands fisted, and just breathing was horrible, since every time he inhaled, he inhaled her scent…which made it even worse.

Closing his eyes, he turned away from her. "I'll take you back." His voice was clipped with strain.

Her eyes widened in panic. _No! It's too early! _"Already?" her voice was meek and trembling.

He didn't reply; instead, he kept looking away.

Her gaze lowered before she reached out to grab onto his hand gently, which made him turn to her with shock-filled eyes. Pleadingly, she didn't release her hold. "Please…Don't take me home yet." She paused before continuing quietly. "Even if we don't train, could we just…stay out here? Please?"

"And do what?"

She pursed her lips in thought and looked around at the clearing as if it would give her the answer she needed. Instead of answering, she finally just pulled him toward the middle of the clearing, appreciating that he followed without complaint.

Reaching that point, she sat down on the grass and looked up at him questioningly, her hand still loosely attached to his own.

He was hesitating, struggling with something.

But one look at the delicate fingers that wrapped around his was all it took for him to join her. She smiled softly and turned to look up at the night sky, or more specifically, the friendly moon. "We used to do this when I was little, remember?" she glanced at him with that same warm smile. "Look at the moon…?"

He remembered. Although, even then, he was staring at her, rather than the moon. "Is your favorite still the full moon?"

She giggled. "It is," she peered at him through her bangs. "Although, I've learned since then that what I thought were different moons are actually different phases." She ended it with another laugh, which he found delectable. "Is yours still the new moon?"

He smirked in amusement, while looking down at her hand still holding onto his. "Perhaps," he murmured, his fingers interlacing with hers, and surprisingly, she didn't seem to mind. She rather enjoyed it, actually. It felt…right…and peaceful.

Silence enveloped them comfortably, and a few minutes later, Hinata laid down on her back, her opal eyes drinking in the amazing sight of the stars. Meanwhile, she enjoyed the way that his thumb seemed to unthinkingly stroke her skin.

Not liking that he wasn't able to see her, Itachi laid back as well, his gaze focused on her out of the corner of his eye. Occasionally, she would look over at him, making sure he was still there. She would smile, and whether he liked it or not, he would smirk softly back.

No words had to be said between them—looks could be so expressive. And just the other's presence nearby was enough for that moment; a moment when they could both forget about everything else that mattered, and instead revel in each other's silent company.

Not even an hour later, Hinata had fallen asleep, and minutes after that, she was seen curling up against Itachi, her nearest heat source. He watched her like she was all he could see, and he enjoyed how their entwined hands stayed laced together between them, and how she rested her head on his shoulder with her other arm draped over his chest, her fingers curled against the leather armor.

Moon and stars forgotten, he watched her with a memorizing eye, taking to memory every breath that escaped her lips, every sound that resembled a muted snore, every piece of hair that flowed over his skin, and every move of her limbs.

With his one free hand, he caressed her face, touching her eyelids, her cheeks and chin, her lips…then her neck and shoulders, down her arm until he finally rested his hand over the one of hers on his chest. Even then, he continued to stroke the delicate skin, his body feeling light with thoughtless feelings.

He imagined what it would be like to go to sleep and wake up to this sight every day, and needless to say, he wanted it.

To constantly have her close by, always within his reach…

To sleep every night with her supple body against his more hardened one…

Never having to let her go back to her home…

Never having to wait another twenty-four hours to see her again…

Always within his reach…

He wanted that more than anything in the world—more than power or fame. He just wanted _her_. He was willing to do anything to achieve it.

Feeling her body against his made him acknowledge just how much his life actually meant something to him now.

He wasn't just existing anymore, nor was he spending his life carrying out orders from a demon lord.

He had something much more precious to live for now.

And he refused to give her up.

* * *

Hidden by curtains, Gaara watched from his bedroom balcony as Hinata's demon carried her sleeping body into her bedroom. He tensed in waiting, knowing that he had to catch the demon before he departed for the night.

Quickly, his sand came around him, allowing him to transport to the other balcony. But before his sand had disappeared around him, his green eyes widened at seeing the demon directly in front of him with a warning glint to his red eyes.

_He's fast. And he sensed me coming._

Itachi glared at him with threat. "Have you come to protect her from me?"

Getting over his initial intimidated shock, Gaara returned to his calm appearance. "No," he paused, feeling anxiety just by looking at the demon. "I need to know what you plan to do about your brother."

Itachi's eyes narrowed. "Sasuke. What about him?"

It was Gaara's turn to narrow his eyes, except in confusion. "Did Hinata not tell you about what he's been doing?" He took the demon's silence as a 'no'. "There's a reason why I stand guard over her room at night while she's with you. Sasuke saw the pendant, and he recognized it as yours."

"I know that."

Gaara continued, despite feeling somewhat surprised. "If he doesn't know for certain, then he highly suspects that Hinata is connected to you, and considering that he wants revenge against you…"

"She's become a target to him." Itachi finished. "I knew that would happen."

Gaara glared. "Then were you also aware that he's been trying to corner her for information about you?"

Red eyes widened in shock, though it was barely noticeable.

"He tried coming into her bedroom at night, thinking that she was alone. I, of course, intercepted him." He paused. "Sasuke's not going to stop stalking her until he gets the information he wants."

_Shit _was all that ran through Itachi's mind at the moment, obviously not liking this new information, but feeling peeved that Hinata hadn't mentioned the new development to him.

"Fortunately," Gaara murmured. "I don't think he's managed to get her alone yet. She's never alone during the day, and when she's not with you at night, I keep guard."

Like gears in a machine, Itachi's mind was running through different possibilities and strategies as to how the current situation would be dealt with. He hated to admit it, but there was not much he could do outside of either stealing Hinata or breaking into the temple to kill his brother. The latter could prove too risky, while the former could potentially damage the only relationship he actually cared about.

During the demon's silence, Gaara felt that he had to reiterate his earlier question. "What do you plan to do about it?"

Itachi's eyes fixed on the half-demon with cold resolve. "Hold him off for awhile longer."

"And then what?" Gaara muttered through gritted teeth.

"I'll take care of the rest." He finished while walking towards his balcony exit.

Not liking what the demon might have been implying, Gaara turned to face him. "What are you planning?"

Kneeling on top of the balcony railing, Itachi glanced at the younger man out of the corner of his eye. "That…is not for you to know…yet."

Gaara watched the demon jump from the railing before disappearing behind the Konoha wall. Turning around to look at the sleeping Hinata, all tucked in her bed, Gaara couldn't ignore the uncomfortable tightening in his chest, and the worry that emanated from it. It felt like a dreadful premonition was finally going to come true.

Was it time already?

* * *

**So…I've been very irritated that almost every time that I go onto fanfiction, I have to take a quiz first? What's the deal with that, and when will it end?**

**Anyway, so I have been debating with myself over this story for a while. Since it is going to be quite long (I feel that I'm only halfway through), I've considered two options. One: I could just continue, even though the story will amount up to sixty-some-chapters. Two: I could split it into two parts, having Divinity be the first part, and have the next part be like the Demon Arc or something. What I mean is to basically cut the entire story in half, posting each half under the new story option.**

**Does that make sense?**

**For simplicity sake, I think I might just go with option one, even though you guys would have to deal with a long-ass story, and a ton of chapters to sort through.**

**In any case, please review because I need opinions. I want to do whatever will be easiest for my beloved readers.**

**Thank you for your patience and love!**

**See you next time!**

**-Tranquilwriter**

**P.S. I have the next chapter planned out, so it should hopefully not take too long to finish.**


	27. Family

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**THANK YOU FOR YOUR THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS! I'll edit this later, so I apologize for any errors. Just ignore them please!**

**(Note: I've been really lazy lately, and while there are reasons for that, I won't torture you with my excuses…at least not now, so go enjoy the chapter that you've been waiting for)**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XXVI**

**Family**

* * *

"_Family quarrels have a total bitterness unmatched by others. Yet it sometimes happens that they also have a kind of __tang__, a pleasantness beneath the unpleasantness, based on the tacit understanding that this is not for keeps; that any limb you climb out on will still be there later for you to climb back." _

_~Mignon McLaughlin, __The Neurotic's Notebook__, 1960_

* * *

As tired as she was, Hinata still woke up at the beginning of dawn, before anyone else would probably be awake. However, she had a reason for doing so, and that reason was (surprisingly) waiting for her outside her door.

She had been intending to walk to the previous spot that they had talked, but upon opening her door, there he was, leaning against the wall, hands in his pockets and gaze focused elsewhere.

That is, until he heard the door open, and then his gaze refocused on her. "We have a conversation to finish."

Hinata didn't respond right away—didn't even nod. Instead, she glanced around before returning her gaze back to him. "Do you…um," she stepped back and to the side. "Do you want to come in?"

He shifted away from the wall, hands still in his pockets, and walked past her into her bedroom, after which she closed the door, leaving them alone in her room.

Hinata stood not too far from her bedroom door as she watched him walk toward her balcony. When he finally stopped amidst the silence, he leaned over, planting his forearms on the railing, seemingly looking out at the view.

Uncertain with herself, she began to walk toward him until she was standing not too far from him on her balcony. Within the momentary silence, she too looked out at the expanse of forest just outside the Konoha wall.

Glancing at her from the side, Sasuke was able to plainly see the blood-diamond necklace resting against her chest. It brought to mind so many questions, as well as so many memories of his past.

Hinata had questions, too, but it was Sasuke who began first.

"You won't tell me where he is, will you?"

She shook her head before replying. "No…"

He turned to her and smirked. "Even if I force it out of you?"

Her eyes widened in something akin to fear and panic, but it quickly abated when she heard him chuckle below his breath.

"Don't worry. I don't plan to do that just yet."

She sighed in relief.

Sasuke's smirk dropped as he seemed to lower his solemn gaze to his hands. "I'm not ready to confront him yet." _He's still too strong._

"What he did to your family…" Hinata began quietly. "Do you know why?"

He didn't look at her, and his gaze seemed distant. "No, I don't know the exact reason…but I do have theories."

She stayed quiet, waiting for him to continue.

"One theory is that he simply did it on a whim, or to perhaps test his strength against father's."

"That doesn't seem like him." She murmured more to herself than to him.

"I agree; he's too calculated and methodical to do anything based on a whim. That's why I think it was planned."

She faced him. "So, your next theory…?"

"Is that he was against what my father was doing." He paused to face her as well. "My father told me once that it was against demon law to integrate with humans, unless it was to kill them, of course. As it is for humans, the creation of any half-demon is forbidden amongst the demon race."

"That's true…" She remembered Itachi mentioning that to her at some point. "What was your father doing exactly?"

Sasuke was quiet for a moment, as if recalling his past in more detail. Eventually, he answered her. "I was told that my father loved my mother and wanted to live with her in our village. Not too long after, I was born."

Hinata furrowed her brows. "The other people in your village…They didn't mind?"

"About a demon living with them?" he clarified before continuing. "Apparently not. From what I noticed as a child, they treated him like he was their protector or something. He wasn't hated there for being a demon among humans. And I wasn't hated either."

"That sounds very peaceful." She smiled softly at him, to which he smirked for a brief second.

"It was…for a while, anyway. Or, at least, until Itachi showed up."

Hinata felt surprised. "You knew him before…?"

"Before he killed everyone, yeah. He would come around sometimes…mostly to talk to my father. Even then, I could tell that my _brother _wasn't pleased with what he saw…with how my father was practically betraying his own race." He laughed then. "And to think that he made a connection with a human not too long after that. What a hypocrite."

Hinata lowered her gaze, feeling as though she should be ashamed for that connection. "I think he would have killed me."

Sasuke turned to look at her. "Why didn't he?"

She couldn't resist smiling a little at the memory. "I saved his life, so he spared mine."

"Saved it how?" Sasuke persisted, his tone relaying irritation. "How did you even get outside the wall?"

"When I was seven, I think," she began, watching her fingers wringing. "I found a hole in the wall and crawled through, and eventually found myself in a clearing…where Itachi was. He was unconscious and injured very badly. So, I healed him. And when he woke up, he let me go instead of killing me."

Sasuke let the information mull over in his mind. "I wonder if that was after he battled my father." He chuckled ruefully. "He could've died that day, and that would've been his punishment for killing my family…but you saved him." He looked at her. "I should hate you for that."

Her eyes widened again and her brows rose.

He shrugged. "But it's not like you knew that at the time." He paused to furrow his brows. "Did you even know that he was a demon before you healed him?"

She nodded hesitantly, averting her gaze from his.

"And yet you still did it."

She nodded again.

"What were you thinking?" his tone was angry and incredulous.

"I guess…" she pursed her lips in thought. "I felt that I had to…Demon or human, it was still an injury that only I could heal. I didn't really consider the consequences at the time. I just wanted to help and be useful."

It was silent again.

"What happened after that?" Sasuke questioned, glancing at her again. "You obviously went back, since I doubt that he would hand over that pendant to you after only one meeting."

"I did…though, I wasn't quite expecting to see him again so soon." She replied before her tone filled with humor. "He had warned me that he would kill me if he saw me again…but he never hurt me."

Sasuke was confused. The Itachi that _she_ knew seemed so different from the one that he was familiar with. "Then what?"

Hinata bit her lip. "I saw him almost every day after that…almost every day for a year." She noticed his questioning gaze and explained further. "He had to leave for a campaign…He was gone for ten years…" her gaze turned distant, as if she was no longer aware that Sasuke was present and listening. "But he swore to me that he would come back…"

Sasuke watched analytically as a tender smile worked its way around her mouth. "Did he?" He saw her smile grow and her gaze turn dreamy as she began to nod, but suddenly caught herself and turned to him with wide eyes. Her fingers moved up to cover her lips, showing how much she did not mean to reveal that. Sasuke merely smirked before chuckling. "You really aren't cut out for lying or keeping secrets, are you?"

She stayed silent, too afraid to speak, lest she accidentally give away too much more information.

"Hn," he grunted. "So, he's in the area, and you probably see him frequently, right?" he looked at her, finding amusement in the way that she tried to stubbornly stay quiet. Her lips tightened and she looked away from him, causing for him to feel even more amused.

_I'm such a fool_. Hinata reprimanded herself. How could she have just done that? She might as well tell him exactly where Itachi was with the way she was going. Although, it was strange how comfortable it was to talk to Sasuke about Itachi. Talking to Gaara was one thing, but talking to Sasuke…it felt as though he truly understood, being someone who had a past with the demon as well. Perhaps that was why Sasuke was talking to her so freely, too.

"Look," Sasuke stood up straight before leaning an elbow on the railing, his body angled toward her. "Like I said, I'm not ready to face him yet, so don't get so finicky about it." When she remained silent, he rolled his eyes. "You're stubborn—I'll give you that."

She kept her mouth shut and her eyes down.

"I'm curious," he spoke up again. "What is it that you two do when you see each other?"

She looked at him with furrowed brows.

"I mean, I can't exactly see him talking to you for hours over a cup of tea."

Despite her attempt at trying, she ended up laughing at the mental image of Sasuke's words. After shaking her head, she looked at Sasuke's smirking face before speaking. "He's training me right now."

"Training you?" Sasuke repeated slowly, doubtfully. "Training you to fight…?"

Hinata nodded before smiling shyly. "I'm not very good. At least, not compared to Neji or any of you…" She paused quizzically when she noticed a new emotion cross over Sasuke's face. He looked emotionally pained, hurt, and…jealous? "Sasuke? Are you alright? Did I say something wrong?"

The emotional slip-up was fixed in an instant, only to be replaced by something more skeptical. "Do you really believe…that he spends time with you because he cares? You really don't think that he has an ulterior motive? That you might just be a tool to him?"

Sadness found its way back into her eyes as she could practically feel the bad memories washing over him in waves. "I don't believe he would do that to me…"

He turned around, as if to head back towards the door, but stopped just next to her and wrapped a hand around her upper arm. When their gazes met, his face revealed nothing but a warning. "Don't believe everything he tells you."

He let go of her then and walked towards the door with her watching from behind. When he reached the door and opened it, he paused to turn back to face her with a raised brow. "Are you coming or not?"

"What?"

He rolled his eyes. "Breakfast?"

"Oh!" She walked quickly over to join him, allowing him to walk her to the dining room, smiling at the way he seemingly shook his head in agitation.

* * *

It was fortunate for Hinata that when she arrived in the dining hall with Sasuke, no one else was there yet. It was fortunate because she knew that the reactions from Neji, Temari, and Gaara would not be good if they saw her with Sasuke.

Good goddess, Neji would've blown a fuse.

At the beginning of the meal, Temari managed to convince Hinata to eat extremely quick so that they could hit the baths before beginning their day. Hinata obviously obliged, no matter how sick it made her feel to eat so fast.

Either way, the two deities soon found themselves with a few minutes to relax in the hot water before having to dress quickly and report to Kurenai.

"So, I've been meaning to ask you…" Temari began. "How's your, uh, _situation_ progressing?" she smiled slyly, hinting at the new revelation of Hinata being in love.

"Oh, um, well…" Hinata stumbled over her words. "It's…not…really progressing."

"No?"

Hinata shook her head. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

Temari looked at her blankly before laughing. "Oh, that's right…I forgot that you're new to this." She paused seeing her little friend's hopeless expression. Suddenly, she felt maternal. "I'm not saying it's easy, but…you're going to have to confess to him, or at least hint what your feelings are. Some guys can be really dense, so if the hinting doesn't work, a full-on, straight-up confession will."

Hinata's lips formed into a pout. "What if he doesn't feel the same way?"

"Hm," Temari thought about it before answering. "There's always other guys, right?"

Hinata looked more dejected, rather than comforted.

"Come on, Hina. Like any guy in their right mind would reject _you_." She smiled broadly when she saw Hinata smile as well. "Speaking of which…who's the guy?"

"You wouldn't approve of him, which is why…I don't really want to tell you." Hinata murmured quietly.

"Is he already taken?" Temari asked, not liking the sound of her little sister being in love with someone she wouldn't approve of.

"No, I don't think so."

"Okay…and you've already established that it's not Neji…" Temari sorted through all the single males in the temple. "It's not Gaara, because I would approve of that. So…that leaves…Shino, Kiba, Choji, Sasuke…The only one that I absolutely would not approve of is the Uchiha—the others aren't so bad…" Temari's eyes widened. "Oh goddess! You're in love with the Uchiha?"

Hinata hesitated before nodding. She was in love with an Uchiha, yes…just not the one of whom Temari was thinking.

"Of all the men, Hinata! Seriously? He's more of an arrogant prick than Neji!"

If her friend's tirade wasn't aimed solely at her, Hinata would've found it entertaining.

Eventually, Temari started to calm from her moment of rage. "I can't believe you have feelings for that block of ice. Now, I can see why you're so worried about him not feeling the same way. I can't believe this…"

"I'm sorry, Temari…"

The older deity sighed while rubbing the bridge of her nose. "It can't be helped, I guess. I always kind of hoped that if you were going to get together with a half-demon, it would be with my brother, but oh well." She paused before smiling half-heartedly. "Well, he is half-human, and that counts for something." Her smile grew. "Better to be half-human than not human at all, right?"

Hinata smiled shakily. "R-Right…"

* * *

Hinata stretched, while waiting in anticipation for Neji. When he arrived, he came directly to her, resting a hand against her shoulder. With a soft smirk, he greeted her. "It seems like I don't see you as much as I used to."

Hinata smiled. "We've all been very busy, I think."

"And somebody's been waking up at the crack of dawn."

Her smile turned bashful, which made Neji laugh.

"Do you want to do a few warm-ups first, or just get straight into it?" Neji asked, returning the conversation back to business.

"I'm ready to start now, if you'd like."

"Perfect." Neji smiled, distancing himself from her with the intentions to begin the spar.

However, it was abruptly interrupted before it even began…and by Sasuke, no less.

Neji glared at him heatedly. "What the hell do you want?"

Arms crossed over his chest, Sasuke glanced at Neji before settling his gaze on Hinata instead. "Spar with me."

"What?" That surprised her.

"Absolutely not!" And it looked like Neji was going to boil over pretty soon.

"Sasuke," Kakashi came over quickly. "You have other training to do, so leave Hinata alone."

That brought a smirk to Neji's face, and a scowl to Sasuke's.

Kakashi continued, however, talking solely to his pupil. "Hinata does well training with Neji. She would get hurt training with you, since you wouldn't exactly go easy on her."

Hinata was agreeing with Kakashi up until that last remark, which made her remember what Itachi had told her the previous night.

_**"From now on, you should spar against someone who will not go easy on you. Otherwise, you will not learn or get better."**_

_He's right. Neji goes easy on me, so I never really know if I truly am getting better. _She glanced at Sasuke, who was participating in a heated argument between him, Neji, and Kakashi. The three men seemed oblivious to her, despite that she was the topic of discussion. _I know Sasuke wouldn't go easy on me, and he'd probably end up hurting me, but at least I'll be able to see how much I've progressed…or haven't progressed._

"Why spar with her, anyways?" Neji rallied against Sasuke. "Go spar with Naruto instead."

"I'm choosing to spar with her," Sasuke retaliated. "Because sparring with you is obviously a waste of her time."

"And since when do you give a shit about Hinata and what is or is not a waste of her time?"

"I suppose since you're making it so obvious that you're doing nothing except holding her back."

Neji's glared intensified heatedly as he approached closer to Sasuke, his hands itching desperately to strangle the Uchiha. "I'll ask once again," he seethed. "Since when do you give a shit about anyone besides yourself?"

Quick to retaliate, especially after verbally sparring with Naruto so often, Sasuke stepped closer to Neji in a calm but threatening manner. "What makes you think that I have to give a shit about someone in order to notice that nothing you're doing is improving the matter?"

"You son of a—"

"Boys, I think that's enough." Kakashi interrupted, using his hands to separate the two young men. Though not familiar with Neji, Kakashi knew that even a fool could see how absolutely furious he was, and how he was so ready to kill Sasuke. Neji could normally be cool-headed and calm in nearly every situation, but as soon as Hinata became the topic, Neji might as well just wear his emotions on his sleeve.

Sasuke was another matter. Out of all of the young men at the temple, Kakashi knew Sasuke the best. No matter the situation, Sasuke covered his anger and rage under a thick blanket of cool, calm, and collectedness. His _only _quick-to-anger sore spot was his demon half-brother, but the elusive Itachi Uchiha was not the one being discussed, which was what confused Kakashi.

After all, even though Sasuke's tone and body stance emanated calm, if one were to look closely, there was a ready tension beneath his skin and cording through his muscles. In his eyes showed a readiness to fight, or perhaps defend himself should Neji attack. That was all well and good, really, but…Kakashi was confused because he couldn't understand _why_ Sasuke was willing to defend himself against Neji, or even _why _the young Uchiha was willing to piss off Neji just so he could spar with Hinata (of all people).

"Wait," Hinata stepped up to them, effectively breaking through the thick-tensioned moment. She faced Neji first. "I would like to spar with Sasuke."

Neji looked dumbfounded for a moment before he edged closer to her, looking angry. "Are you insane? You'll accomplish nothing but injuries by sparring with him!"

Sasuke snorted derisively. "She'll accomplish more with me than she will with you."

"Are you normally this irritating, or have you gotten tired of picking fights with Naruto and thought that we would be a better match?" Neji was definitely getting angrier by the second.

"Neji," Hinata placed a placating hand on his forearm. "Sasuke's right,"

"What?"

"I'm sorry, but…" she glanced at Sasuke. "Even though I might get injured with Sasuke, I need an opponent that won't go easy on me."

"I can do that if you want me to, Hinata. All you have to do is ask."

"Hinata does have a point." Kakashi conceded. "She needs an enemy to fight against, and you know that that's something you could never be to her." Inwardly, Kakashi was thrilled to have Hinata placate a situation that could've made the white-haired man sweat. If Hinata wanted to spar with Sasuke, and the goddess only knew why, then Kakashi wouldn't stand in her way.

Neji, of course, would without a second thought, and he was ready to keep standing in the way of the spar happening, but one long look into Hinata's pleading eyes was all it took for Neji to practically deflate like a balloon.

"Hn," Neji looked away, not pleased with the circumstances. "Fine. Spar with him, I don't care. But," he glared at the Uchiha. "I'll be watching closely."

Sasuke smirked in victory. "Fine, just don't interrupt."

Hinata smiled reluctantly at her beloved guardian. "Thank you, Neji."

"Whatever," he shifted away from her to watch a couple yards away, where Kakashi soon joined him.

Out of earshot of the two, Sasuke approached Hinata. "Are you ready?"

"Why do you want to spar with me? I told you that I'm not very good."

"You're being trained by Itachi," he made sure to keep his voice low. "I want to see what he's taught you." He almost walked away, but stopped to speak to her again. "Oh, and…don't hold back."

"Well," Hinata smiled nervously. "Don't go easy on me."

He smirked, amused. "I won't."

Hinata waited until he was a good distance away before she slowly settled into her beginning position. She watched as Sasuke seemed to analyze it before his brows lifted in recognition.

"So, he's been teaching you that style, huh?"

"You know it?" Hinata hoped he didn't.

"I know _of_ it." He replied simply, lowering himself into his beginning stance as well. He smirked in preparation. "Your move."

"Um, you can go first."

Sasuke grunted before he seemingly disappeared and reappeared behind her. Hinata had only enough time to widen her eyes in astonishment before she felt the inevitable hit to her back, making her collapse to the ground on her hands and knees.

She definitely wasn't expecting it to be that painful. There was no doubt about it, now. Neji had _definitely _been going easy on her, and in a way, so had Itachi.

Coughing, she tried to retain her focus.

Off to the side, Kakashi had to hold Neji back from interfering. A few whispered words, and Neji paced for a moment before forcing himself to stand still and watch the spar with his arms folded tensely over his chest and his jaw clenched tightly.

Sasuke walked in front of Hinata and offered a hand to help her up, which she took with gratitude. "Don't be polite to your opponent. Treat me like an enemy."

She nodded quickly before moving forward to attack him, beginning the spar the way that it was supposed to have begun.

Sasuke dodged each one of her hits, blocking a few. "That's better, but not good enough. I'm your enemy, so fight me like you're supposed to."

Narrowing her eyes in determination, she fought quicker and harder, one of her punches clipping his shoulder.

In less than a second, Sasuke reversed their roles until he was on the offensive.

Hinata barely blocked one of his hits, feeling impressed by his speed. "You're really fast."

He chuckled. "I can tell that you've mastered the technique, but you're slow with it."

"I'm afraid that I'll mess up if I go any fast—" she stumbled back after getting a direct punch to her stomach, causing for her to double over and cough in surprise.

"Take the risk." Sasuke replied, not looking as if he cared about hitting her.

Neji cared, which was made obvious when he started to move forward again in anger, as if he was going to attack Sasuke. "He's trying to kill her,"

Kakashi held him back with a warning and the assurance that Hinata would be alright. "Give her a chance."

Unfortunately for Kakashi, the spar was starting to attract attention, which meant that he would have to restrict more than just Neji. The first arrival was the older blond deity, who pounded over to them with clear hostility. "What the hell is going on here? Who let that bastard fight with Hinata?"

"Calm down, Temari,"

"Don't tell me to calm down, Kakashi! Am I the only one who saw that bastard hit her?"

"More than once," Neji was still seething.

"Hey!" Anko soon bounded over as well. "Why is Hinata sparring with Sasuke, huh?" she looked at Kakashi. "She should only be sparring with Neji. She's not ready for someone of Sasuke's caliber yet."

Kakashi stepped back. "Why am _I_ getting the blame?"

Temari glared at him angrily. "Because you're not doing anything about it!"

"It was Hinata's idea. Besides," Kakashi motioned over to the fight, where Hinata was back on her feet and fighting against Sasuke with eager determination. "As you can see, she's fine."

"Yeah, right now she is!" Temari glared at her gray-haired elder. "In another few minutes, she'll be dead, and it'll be _your_ fault!"

Kakashi chuckled nervously before sighing in defeat. "Look, I'll step in if it gets out of hand, but I honestly don't think that Sasuke will take it that far." He shrugged. "At least, I hope not."

Taking the risk, as Sasuke said, Hinata began to gradually increase her speed. This, as she suspected, resulted in her hits not being as accurate. However, judging by Sasuke's smirk, she was finally putting up the fight that he had been expecting from her. The longer the fight dragged on, she was able to start fighting him like an enemy, rather than act as though she were participating in a friendly spar. This thought process greatly changed the way that she battled, which was another factor that made Sasuke smirk.

Despite the bruises that she felt arising below her skin, Hinata was proud to know that she had landed a few hits on Sasuke as well; though, she doubted that any of said hits were debilitating in any way. Nonetheless, Hinata was (for the first time) feeling true excitement due to being in a battle. It was like an adrenaline rush on so many levels, in which she caught herself smiling at random moments.

Little was she aware of, however, that the others were being attracted to the spar as well—not just Kakashi, Neji, Anko, and Temari. Rather, it was the rest of the deities that came next, and only after wondering why Anko and Temari hadn't returned. After catching sight of the unique spar, the deities found themselves in shock at seeing the most unexpected sparring partners. As soon as the shock wore off, the worry washed over them tenfold.

The crowd of bystanders grew when Naruto came looking for Kakashi and Sasuke, and upon seeing the spar, his loud shouting drew the others over to see what the blonde was spouting so loudly about.

No matter how much a few of the bystanders tried to interfere on Hinata's behalf, Kakashi held them at bay with a reluctant Asuma, Gai, and Anko's assistance. Luckily for them, the spar was coming to a close.

It couldn't come any sooner for Gaara, who watched with a calculated eye and a tense posture. Watching the spar, or more specifically, the way that Sasuke was obviously injuring Hinata made the redhead question the Uchiha's motives. It was obvious to Gaara that Sasuke wasn't wanting to spar with Hinata to better himself. If he wanted that, he would've demanded to spar with him or Naruto—definitely not Hinata, an amateur fighter.

Since that was the case, Gaara figured that the only motives behind Sasuke sparring with Hinata was to simply bully her into giving him the information he wanted. What better way to mask such bullying than a "friendly" spar? From what Gaara knew, Sasuke hadn't managed to corner Hinata yet, since she was rarely left alone. In that case, he suspected that Sasuke instead decided to confront her publically, but behind a façade, his threats done in a more physical way.

The whole situation irritated Gaara, since he didn't know what else he could do except kill the Uchiha to solve the problem. Talking to him would be pointless, considering Sasuke rarely even listened to the matriarch and patriarch.

As for the older Uchiha…Gaara hoped that he did the right thing by telling him about the whole predicament, and he also hoped that said older Uchiha would be able to do something about it. What majorly discomforted Gaara, however, was that he was putting his hope and trust in a demon.

A demon that would gladly destroy the whole village if he had a chance…

But also a demon that seemed to put Hinata before everything else.

Gaara sighed imperceptibly and focused back onto the spar, watching as Hinata landed a hit to Sasuke's arm just before the Uchiha decided to make his final move.

Satisfied that Hinata was putting more effort into the spar and actually treating him like an enemy, Sasuke chose to end it, since it appeared that she was starting to run out of energy. After receiving the hit to his arm, he dodged her next attempts at hitting him, and instead disappeared and reappeared behind her. In the blink of an eye, he had both her hands restricted behind her back, while his other arm wrapped around her neck, which restricted her from practically any movement at all.

He heard her gasp in surprise before sighing in defeat, which made him smirk and lean down to whisper into her ear. "I win. Looks like you need more practice."

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, since his arm didn't let her move her head. "Thank you for not going easy on me."

He moved away from her. "For what it's worth, you're actually not bad."

Her smile grew at the praise. "Really?"

"Tch—you're not that great either."

"Oh," her smile disappeared before she finally giggled quietly. "I told you I wasn't any good."

He smirked. "For once, you weren't lying." He moved to put his hands in his pockets, but flinched at the slight pain in his arm from one of her hits.

"Oh," Hinata saw it and moved over in front of him, getting ready to take his arm. Before she could reach him, however, a body moved in front of her, his back facing her. "Neji,"

The Hyuga had his hands clenched onto Sasuke's collar, all the while glaring threateningly at him. "Are you satisfied now that you've hurt her? Did you get what you wanted?"

"Neji!" Hinata tried to pull her guardian away, but he only shrugged her off.

Sasuke stared at him levelly, calmly. "It was a spar, Hyuga. If you don't get hurt, then you don't learn anything. Don't act like you don't know this."

Neji shook him. "You touch her again, and I'll kill you."

Sasuke smirked before Neji was wrenched away from him by Gai, who was warning him to calm down. Straightening his shirt out, Sasuke turned to find Hinata in the center of her concerned friends. He watched as she bashfully warded them off, promising that she was fine. It didn't work, of course, which led to the masters having to take charge and tell them all to get back to their training.

Kakashi looked at the two sparring partners before departing. "You two heal up and join us when you're done."

They both nodded in understanding, and Hinata watched Neji practically being carried off by Gai, despite his demands that he stay with Hinata since he _was _her guardian after all, and it was his duty, and so on and so forth.

She sighed before looking at Sasuke again with a smile. She walked over towards him and held out her hand. "Is it just your arm? Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"It's fine. It'll be completely healed by tomorrow, so don't waste your energy."

"Please?"

Sasuke paused, hesitated, gulped, and then finally sighed before giving her his arm. He received a smile in gratitude just before she began to heal his slight injuries. She was an amazing person, this one, thought Sasuke as he watched her hands and fingers glide purposefully over his skin. It seemed that the more time he spent with her, he was discovering more and more facets to her personality, and why she would do the certain things that she did…why she was so accepting and understanding…why she could knowingly be around half-demons and touch them without fear or judgment or hostility…

Or, why she could possibly love a mercilessly cold-hearted demon like Itachi Uchiha.

She reminded him of a mother…kind, loving, accepting, understanding, a force of healing, someone to be protected.

Sasuke was beginning to understand why she made such a valuable and trustworthy friend. Despite his natural inclination to keep his more irritating emotional thoughts at bay, he couldn't help thinking that if Gaara could keep her as a friend, why couldn't he?

"All done," she spoke, smiling kindly at him. "Thank you again for sparring with me and not going easy on me."

"What about you?" he asked in a disinterested monotone.

"Hm?" her brows lifted, as if asking for clarity.

He motioned to the bruises that began to darken her porcelain skin. "You're not going to heal those?"

She blushed before staring at her feet bashfully. "I will later…"

His eyes narrowed at her before it dawned on him why she wouldn't do it right then. With a roll of his eyes and a shake of his head, he stared down at her. "Not enough energy?"

She smiled shyly at him before shrugging innocently and repeating her earlier words. "I will later."

He initially resisted it, but in the end, he found himself chuckling quietly under his breath. "Idiot."

* * *

It wasn't soon enough when the day finally ended; especially since Hinata was so exhausted. Not able to do much after her spar with Sasuke, since she was low on energy, she ended up being of minimal help at the pavilion, and it wasn't until she was back in her room after dinner that she finally felt that she had enough energy to heal her bruises. It was a small trial that left her more tired than before, but she was finally injury-free.

Her only worry was whether or not she would be able to stay up long enough to be with Itachi that night. She doubted that she would have enough energy to train with him, and that left her more worried, considering that there was obvious unnamable tension between them. Unless they were training, he seemed hesitant to be close to her, as if uncertain about his own motives.

Other times like when they had held hands while lying on the grass to watch the stars and moon, his hesitancy turned to something else she couldn't put a name to. Not to mention, her own feelings towards him made her feel nervous around him…anxious, even.

By the goddess, she was in love with him, and while that made her heart soar, it also terrified her. She almost didn't know how to act around him at times, afraid that he would see how much she loved him, and then…he would probably be disgusted with her and leave for good, regretting that he had ever come back.

Then again, a part of her wasn't so sure about that. It was the part of her that noticed his occasional heated looks and the way his eyes would sometimes hungrily caress her body…

Good goddess, it was those looks alone that made her shiver in anticipation and need and want…She wanted him in ways that she couldn't understand or comprehend, but it only managed to make her more afraid than ever, since she had no idea if he felt the same way.

An abrupt knocking on her door interrupted her thoughts, and with a questioning brow, she walked over to answer it, a part of her expecting it to be Sasuke. Except, it wasn't Sasuke.

"Neji? Is everything alright?" she asked, seeing the familiar look of concern knotting his brows.

He offered a small smile. "I was actually going to ask you that." His analyzing eyes swept over her body, feeling relief at the injuries that were not there. "I wasn't sure if that bastard hurt you badly or not…or at all, though it looked like he did."

She smiled politely. "I'm okay," she assured him. "He really didn't hurt me as badly as it might have looked."

"That's a relief." He smiled, though it was strained and tight with hidden emotions. "Actually, I'm relieved that it's all over. Now, we can go back to our usual routine, where you won't be injured after every spar." His smile was gradually becoming more pronounced.

Hinata lowered her unsmiling gaze as she switched her weight from one foot to the other in a nervous fashion. "Actually, Neji, um…" she gulped, not daring to look at him. "I was thinking…that, um…that I might spar with Sasuke more often. I asked him about it, and he said he wouldn't mind, as long as Master Kakashi doesn't mind, of course, so, um…" Gulping again, she finally looked up to see his response, and flinched at the anger and hurt and betrayal in his eyes. "Neji, please understand—"

His hand lifted, signaling that he wanted her to stop talking. It was clear that he wasn't pleased. He was quiet for a while, before finally saying something. "Is that really what you want?"

In a whisper, she replied. "It is."

He let out a humorless and scornful laugh, while running his fingers over his jaw. Afterward, his mouth formed into a thin, tight line. "I don't understand,"

"I'm sorry…" she whispered, feeling ashamed.

He was shaking his head. "Why him?" he asked incredulously. "Not too long ago, he practically tried to attack you, and now you're giving him permission to hurt you? What part of this do you expect me to understand?"

"I…I just want to get better, Neji."

He nodded, barely keeping his anger in check. "And I'm obviously doing a poor job of that." He swallowed before turning on his heel to leave. "Goodnight, Hinata."

"Neji," she tried reaching out for him, not wanting him to be angry with her. Didn't he understand that she was just doing what she thought was best? She was just trying to do what Itachi suggested. It wasn't her intention to hurt anyone in the process. Why was Neji taking it so badly? It wasn't like she was choosing Sasuke over him!

Well, perhaps she was, but Neji had to know that it wasn't really like that, right? Surely, he knew…

When he ignored her calling out to him, she decided to run after him, grasping onto his hand to stop him. He did stop walking, but he was apparently refusing to turn around and look at her. Her eyebrows drew together as she neared closer to him, never releasing her hand from his. "Neji, I didn't mean…"

His head turned slightly toward her, but he still wasn't looking at her.

She could see the pain in his eyes, and immediately, she felt ashamed of herself for causing that pain. Gulping, she stepped closer to him, using her free hand to rest against his upper arm. Following the movement, she let her forehead fall against his shoulder, her eyes closing. Softly, she spoke the only words that she could think of to say. "I'm sorry,"

Neji closed his eyes tightly before lowering his head, his breath slowly exhaling from his mouth. He squeezed her hand before letting go. "Me too."

He walked away, leaving her standing alone in the hallway watching him go. It wasn't until he turned the corner at the end of the hallway that she turned to go back to her room. She never realized how hurt he would be with her decision. She supposed that she had overestimated Neji's seemingly constant understanding. She should've known that even her beloved guardian had his limits. She should've known that with how much he wanted to be part of her life, her decision to spar with Sasuke instead of him would make him feel as though she were pushing him away…which she wasn't.

But he didn't know that, and she had failed to tell him so.

Entering her bedroom, she kept her gaze on the floor, even while she closed the door behind her and leaned against it. She felt as though she had always failed with Neji. She failed at loving him the way he wanted her to love him…She failed at letting him know how much he meant to her, how much she cherished him as a friend and guardian. All her smiles and holding his hand wasn't enough for him, and she was amazed at how he made her feel like it was enough.

She covered her eyes with her hand, letting the darkness of the room pull her back into a sense of ease and comfort. _I'm so sorry, Neji…_

"You look troubled."

She gasped, shooting her gaze upward to stare at her red-haired visitor. "Gaara…" she inwardly shook herself back into control. "Have you been here long?"

He shook his head as a reply. After a pause, he asked, "What happened?"

She smiled briefly. "Nothing, I'm just tired."

He didn't nod or reply or comment; he simply watched her warily, the gears in his mind turning to order his thoughts and suspicions. He had sensed Neji nearby and could only assume that whatever was troubling Hinata had much to do with Neji. He could further assume that Neji had confronted her about her sparring with Sasuke earlier, which is exactly what Gaara had planned to do.

She walked toward him, and though she was smiling again, it was weary and barely controlled. She felt stressed and sleep felt so far away. "Is something wrong, Gaara?"

Appearing as indifferent as usual, he merely stared at her before speaking. "Sasuke Uchiha…You let him spar with you." Though it was a statement, the question of "why" was implied.

"I did." She replied warily, not certain about the point he was trying to make, and she wasn't entirely wanting to explain her reasons at the moment.

His eyes narrowed as if he just read her thoughts. "You always used to seem afraid of him, but you weren't today. Why is that?"

She barely restrained a sigh, while she walked over to her bed to sit down. Folding her hands in her lap, she met the eyes of her long-time friend and confidant. "Sasuke's not as scary as I thought. He's actually…" she paused, trying to think of a word to describe him, but the closest she could come was, "nice?"

If Gaara was anyone else, his shock would be showing plainly on his face. "You've talked to him."

Hinata nodded, averting her gaze elsewhere. "He knows everything, so it's okay." She peered at Gaara. "He hasn't tried to hurt me or threaten me…We just talk, that's all."

"You're being foolish, Hinata. You should never have told him anything. Now, you've become a tool for him to use at his disposal."

She expected this reaction from Gaara, knowing in her heart that he was worried for her, and while it was comforting, it made her feel more tired and stressed than ever. "I don't think he would do that…he…I think—"

"You think the best of people." He interrupted. "Even though they can be extremely dangerous to you."

"I know," she whispered.

_Then why do it? _He wanted to ask. But, he knew the answer to that already. She was simply doing what she felt was right, but in the end, she was only causing more damage to herself. She was so naïve of the world around her, thinking that everyone was good at heart, but couldn't she tell that none of that mattered? Didn't she know that all she was doing was letting herself be used by others…to be discarded at their whim? _She's so naïve_.

Gaara had to remind himself why else he came to her room that night. There was something else he needed to tell her…and he had a feeling that she wouldn't like it. "Last night…" he began, making eye contact with her before continuing. "I talked to your demon."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "About what?" she asked meekly.

"About Sasuke's intentions of getting information out of you."

Hinata's bottom lip quivered with trepidation. "His intentions?"

"Him practically stalking you, trying to corner you…"

She tried to gulp, but her throat seemed to tighten in such a way that she could barely swallow. Her chest clenched as she realized how Itachi must have reacted to that. She remembered how he had reacted to her getting attacked by demons, to having Sasuke as a sometimes-protector, to knowing that his half-brother lived in the same building as her, even…

But now Itachi had been told that Sasuke was threatening her….She put her hand to her heart, feeling it clench in fear again. If she knew Itachi as well as she thought she did, then he was no doubt plotting Sasuke's demise. It wasn't just that, however. Her immediate fear at the moment was knowing that Itachi was going to be furious about it.

"Did he…" she began. "Did he say anything…after you told him?"

"He said he would take care of it, figure something out." Gaara replied quietly, sensing how upset she was, and most likely with him.

"He's going to kill Sasuke…" she murmured, more to herself than him.

Gaara's eyes narrowed at her. "You know that for certain."

She shrugged noncommittally. "I don't know what else he would do." There was a pause before she looked at Gaara with obvious hurt in her eyes. "Why would you tell him?"

So he did upset her. "I needed to know what he was going to do about his half-brother. I assumed you had already told him." He watched her shake her head before burying her face into her hands. The entire action emanated despair, and it made him irritated just seeing it. It irritated him, because he felt as though he was being blamed for something bad, when all he was doing was trying to look out for her—like he always did.

Hinata did feel anger, and it was so easy to feel such an emotion after already feeling tired and stressed. It was hard to think rationally at the moment. She knew in her heart that Gaara, like Neji, was concerned for her and cared for her enough to want to protect her from Sasuke, who seemed a threat to them. She knew all of that, and yet…a part of her couldn't help feeling angry at them for not giving her the chance to handle it herself.

They seemed to assume that she would be completely helpless against Sasuke; they weren't even willing to let her try to befriend the half-demon Uchiha. It felt as though they were skipping over what she could do to help, and went straight for doing the work themselves.

If anyone was making her feel helpless, it was them—Gaara and Neji, and even Itachi—though she knew they had good intentions. Their protectiveness was becoming stifling, or perhaps it just took fatigue and stress to make her feel that way.

Whatever the case, she had a hard time being her usual cheerful, kind, and loving self at the moment. She was just so tired…

"Gaara?"

He looked up at her after hearing her whisper his name.

She continued without taking her eyes off of the hands in her lap. "Itachi will be here soon. I think it would be best if you left…" At his silence, she looked up at him. "Please?"

His face was unreadable, but a glint of self-disappointment shown in his eyes before he gave a quick nod and disappeared in a whirl of sand.

Hinata released a sigh and tried to prepare herself for the inevitable confrontation with Itachi. During which, she kept thinking about how much she just wanted to go to sleep and forget that this night ever happened. She wanted to forget that the ones she loved made her feel like she had no way to protect herself or control a situation. She wanted to forget their obvious disapproval, and the way they tried to fix the situation without even asking her first.

She just wanted to forget those negative emotions, and wake up the next day, feeling like her usual self. She wanted to fall asleep, focusing intently on her love for the protectors and friends in her life, knowing in her heart that they were just trying to help.

She hated to feel anything other than that.

A thud on her balcony alerted her to Itachi's presence, and despite the normal twinge of excitement in her chest, she also felt anxiety as if she were about to get in trouble or reprimanded.

Itachi entered her room with one thought on his mind, and he hated knowing that it had to do with his half-breed brother. However, as soon as he set his gaze on her, he felt as though his mind had been wiped clean. Instincts drove him to want to touch her and feel her against him, but as usual, he quickly pushed those instincts to the back of his mind, forcing himself to stay on the issue at hand.

And judging by the looks of it, she seemed to already know what was coming, and it was expressed in the way she sat resolutely on her bed, gaze resting solemnly on the hands in her lap.

Still not looking up at him, she surprised him by talking first. "Are you going to yell at me?"

"Do you want me to?" he murmured coldly, while taking tentative steps toward her. Seeing that she didn't so much as shake her head, he continued. "Personally, I want to throttle you for being such a fool."

Her brows drew together into an unfamiliar frown, and when she finally met his gaze, her eyes took on a defensive anger. "I'm a fool for allowing Sasuke to be around me?"

For some reason, seeing her anger made _his_ spark up with intensity. His only way of showing it was by his eyes narrowing and his hands forming into tight fists at his sides. "You're a fool for thinking you could handle him on your own. You're an idiot for not telling me yourself about the situation, and instead have me hear about it from that half-demon." While his voice was deceptively quiet, his words cut through her like knives.

She stood from the bed, frown still marring her face in an unnatural fashion, and watched him continue to take slow, furious steps toward her. "I consider him a friend, and I know now that he would never harm me."

His jaw clenched and his red eyes glinted dangerously. "That…is proof as to how much of a naïve idiot you are. He's a _half-demon_, so he's a threat to you, whether you like it or not."

Slowly, she could feel her chest become overrun with the heat of her anger. After talking with Neji, and then Gaara, it would seem that Itachi was going to be the one to see her anger unleashed. It had built up to a breaking point, and Itachi just happened to be pushing the right buttons. Suddenly, she had the desire to hurt him; not physically, of course, but hurt him with her words the way that he was doing to her. Despite the anger, she spoke calmly and wearily. "If Sasuke being a half-demon is a problem, then you should know that I would be safer spending my time with _him_ than with you. If demon blood is as threatening as you say, then I shouldn't be spending time with _you_ at all."

Stopping in place, Itachi's eyes widened at this new sight of Hinata, knowing that she was purposely trying to cause him pain in whatever verbal way it took.

"You're the greatest threat to me, so if I am to spend any time with you, then I should be allowed to befriend Sasuke as well." She paused, lowering her voice to a quieter tone. "I like Sasuke…I like that he doesn't try to control everything I do…and how he doesn't make me feel helpless and weak and unable to defend myself and make my own decisions..."

He scowled at her heatedly, feeling something akin to jealous rage at how she seemed to compare him with his detested brother. It made him want to shake her and yell at her that everything he did was because he cared for her. Did she not understand how precious she was to him? How enraged he would be if anything happened to her? Did it escape her notice that if any harm came to her that it would destroy him? She meant too damn much to him, for goddess' sake!

Hinata watched him warily, feeling her anger abate only to be replaced with an extreme feeling of fatigue…and immense guilt. Seeing his rising anger, she wanted to take back her words, but it was too late, and a part of her felt that he needed to know her feelings…the ones that she had always pushed away and hid within the deep recesses of her heart.

It only took a moment for Itachi to rein in his emotions, keeping them simmering beneath a calm surface. "I'm not going to talk about this with you here. Come." He held out his hand expectantly, wanting to take her to the meadow and finish their argument there. Although, the end result would either be him yelling at her for a good long while, or…pouncing on her like an animal and ravishing her over and over until she knew that he made the rules and that she would obey him. The latter option was beginning to make his brain shut down again.

Watching his proffered hand, Hinata ignored her inner desire to leave with him as usual. Despite their small and pointless squabble, she wanted desperately to be with him for hours on end, even if they would only argue or ignore each other. She wanted to desperately be in his presence. And yet…

Itachi watched her with astonishment as she backed away from him, her gaze averting to the floor…in shame? Guilt? Resentment? For once, he couldn't tell. "Hinata," he quietly demanded. "Come."

She shook her head sullenly. "I'm sorry, Itachi, but…" She seemed back to normal, except that she had never acted this way towards him, and he could obviously see that. "I think I'd rather stay in tonight."

In other words, she didn't want to be with him this night. Or, at least, that's how he interpreted it. She must've been very upset with him if she was so willing to ignore their nightly ritual and avoid him instead.

He scowled at her again, even though she wasn't looking at him. "Fine." He answered shortly. "These nightly outings were becoming tedious, anyway."

Hinata winced as if he had struck her, but still, she did not look up. Instead, she waited in silence until his footsteps could no longer be heard, and only then did she glance up to see that he was no longer there.

When she finally nestled between the cool sheets of her bed, it was with heartfelt gratitude that she fell asleep before her guilt and self-hatred had the chance to torment her. But, she would not be able to elude them the next morning.

_I'm so sorry, Itachi…Please forgive me._

* * *

**I deeply and from the bottom of my heart apologize for this being so late. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry x Infinity!**

**One another note, the majority of you wanted option one (to keep this as one big story), so that is what I will do. Thank you again for telling me your opinions!**

**Also, another huge thank you to all who reviewed! Love you guys!**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I will see you all next chapter! And I wish I could guarantee when that will be. Sorry again :( **

**-Tranquilwriter**


	28. Misunderstanding

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XXVII**

**Misunderstanding**

* * *

"_Most quarrels amplify a misunderstanding."_

_Andre Gide_

"_Envy grieves. Jealousy rages."_

_-Mason Cooley_

* * *

"I should apologize to him." Hinata muttered quietly to herself as she leaned over her balcony railing, watching the sun break over the mountains and light up the forest outside the walls. _I shouldn't have gotten angry like that…but…I don't regret anything I said to him, I just regret that I might have hurt him in some way…_

Though, if she were being honest with herself, she would recall that he didn't seem hurt at all by what she said the previous night. In fact, it didn't seem like he even cared!

Hinata's face formed into a pouty frown as she recalled the last words that Itachi had said to her before leaving.

_**"These nightly outings were becoming tedious, anyway."**_

Her frown deepened until it began to resemble a soft glare, and it was all directed at the forest, where she knew Itachi was residing. "If being with me is so tedious, then why did you even bother coming back?"

"Who are you talking to?"

Hinata inhaled sharply, startled, and turned around to set her wide eyes on the intruder in her bedroom. "Sasuke?"

His brow was raised and his arms crossed over his chest. The expression he was giving her was one of wariness, as if she was becoming insane. However, upon closer inspection, it would be hard to miss his dark eyes glinting in amusement, followed by the slight quirk of his lips.

"H-How…" she cleared her throat. "I didn't hear you come in."

"Obviously." He rolled his eyes. "Let's hope that you will never be on a battlefield. You'd be dead before the battle even begun."

Her lips formed into a pout of displeasure. "That's not true…"

He chuckled lightly. "You're right. As long as you keep talking to yourself, your enemies might stay away from you, since they'd probably think you're crazy."

She tried to frown at him again, but she ended up smiling before a gentle laugh broke from her lips. "You're probably right."

She watched as his eyes passed over where he knew the bruises used to be. Seeing that they were no longer there, he nodded to himself in satisfaction. Afterward, his gaze met hers again. "How was training last night? Learn anything new?"

She pursed her lips, glancing away for a moment before shaking her head. "I didn't go."

His brows pushed together in confusion. "Why's that?"

She blushed and still refused to meet his gaze. "We…got in an argument."

"A bad one?" his tone was quiet and non-judgmental.

She shrugged before finally staring at him, while her teeth gnawed on her bottom lip.

He nodded, as if understanding what she wasn't saying. "Have you ever argued with him before?"

She shook her head again. "Not like that."

He didn't say anything right away, and normally, he wouldn't even care to say anything. However…something about her sad and lost expression made him want to talk to her about it. Sasuke _hated _talking, especially with girls! But, then again…

He shook his head briefly before sighing in resignation. "It doesn't mean anything bad, you know." He waited until she looked at him before clarifying further. "Arguing with someone, I mean."

Hinata remained quiet, waiting for him to continue with whatever he was trying to say.

Sasuke looked away, feeling slightly uncomfortable. "It's normal for two people who care about each other to argue a lot. In that case, it's because they care about each other that they tend to argue frequently."

Hinata suddenly felt like smiling, and not only because she could tell that Sasuke was awkwardly trying to comfort her, but for other reasons as well. "You mean like how you and Naruto argue a lot?"

He snorted derisively before giving her a warning glare. "The _only _reason that we get into arguments is because he's an idiot."

Hinata's smile grew. _And because he's your best friend, and you two regard each other like brothers. _Of course, she wouldn't say that to Sasuke, knowing that he would deny it until his last breath.

As if knowing what she was thinking about, Sasuke scowled at her quickly before turning away and muttering to her stiffly. "Let's go to breakfast."

Restraining the urge to laugh, Hinata followed after him and walked next to him down the hallway towards the dining hall.

They were silent at first, waiting for Sasuke to get a hold of himself before talking again. Finally, with a sigh, Sasuke began to talk once more. "What did you two argue about, anyway?"

Hinata froze for a moment before relaxing enough to answer his question. She thought about how they had argued about Sasuke, but then…the real argument was about her need for freedom of choice, and _his _obvious need to have control over her decisions.

Sasuke watched her discreetly out of the corner of his eye, seeing a frown slowly begin to form on her face. It really wasn't any of his business, but…he wanted to understand her for some reason, and he most definitely wanted to understand the impossible relationship that existed between his brother and Hinata—a demon and a human.

Hinata sorted through her thoughts, trying to put words to what the argument was about. Finally, she ended up smiling bitterly as she found her answer. "I guess…we argued about the same thing that I argued about with Neji and Gaara."

Sasuke turned to her with brows raised in surprise, though it quickly faded to indifference. "Three arguments in one night? Hn. I don't envy you."

"I wouldn't either…," she muttered below her breath.

Glancing at her again, he could almost sigh in frustration at her downtrodden expression. "From what I have seen of your guardian and Gaara, they're both…psychotically overprotective when it comes to you. While I can't imagine Itachi being like that about anyone or anything, I'll have to assume that it was the same for him." He paused, seeing that they were close to the dining room entrance. "Which leads to the question…" his hand reached out to grasp onto her upper arm, stopping her in place. He edged closer to her, so that they could speak in quiet tones, keeping others from listening in. "What were they angry about?"

All the while, his hand stayed clenched onto her arm, though it was done with impersonal restraint; he merely sought to keep her in place. Sasuke knew that, and so did Hinata.

But Neji didn't.

Instead, he watched from the end of a distant hallway as the most infuriating of scenes unfolded ahead of him. He was sure that anyone in his position could not have interpreted it any differently than he was now.

He saw his beloved deity practically standing in the arms of another man, and not just any man, but Sasuke Uchiha. They were talking in whispered tones. What angered Neji the most was seeing the softened look that the Uchiha was giving to her, and the comfort-seeking openness that she was giving to him.

Neji narrowed his eyes at the couple, watching with jealousy and disdain.

Meanwhile, Hinata mustered up enough courage to answer him properly. With a rueful smile, she began. "They were angry about yesterday."

His brows furrowed in confusion for a moment, the two simply looking at each other. He must have seen it in her eyes, because clarity softened his brow with what she was referring to. "Ah," he murmured in understanding before smirking. "They weren't too pleased to see you wander outside your cage of protection by sparring with me."

She nodded wearily.

He chuckled breathily at her expression before leaning closer to whisper in her ear. "It felt good to make your own decisions, didn't it?"

Her eyes widened in surprise as she turned her head to look at him. Black abysmal eyes met white opal orbs marking the development of a strange friendship, because she realized how right he was. It may have been unintentional, but Sasuke had helped her to break out of her "cage of protection", as he put it. It did feel good.

Sasuke frowned at her expression of shock. "If you keep looking at me like that, I'm going to start feeling guilty."

She broke out into a chuckle and let him lead her into the dining hall, where a few of the others were already waiting for their meals. Sasuke nodded to Hinata and she smiled at him before they went to their separate seats.

Temari watched the exchange from her seat, and didn't look away from Hinata as the younger deity took her seat. The wind deity looked astonished as Hinata smiled at her pleasantly, to which Temari returned less enthusiastically. A thought occurred to her after seeing her with Sasuke that… _Good Goddess, did she confess to him? She certainly looks satisfied enough for it to be true. _Despite her dislike of Sasuke, Temari couldn't help smiling at Hinata's look of happiness. _She deserves it…_ Temari froze, seeing Neji walk around her to get to his seat beside Hinata. _Uh-oh._

Seeing Neji sitting beside her, Hinata turned to greet him with a placating smile, but it faded when he didn't even spare her a glance. "Good morning, Neji." She spoke timidly.

"Hn," he grunted, still not looking at her; instead, he kept his gaze focused on the meal he was about to receive.

He was angry at her…from the previous night still? He didn't look that angry _then_, so why did he seem so much worse _now_?

With confused furrowed brows, Hinata glanced at the redhead opposite her, seeing if he was treating her just as coldly.

Sensing her gaze, Gaara looked over with his typical stony expression. He offered her a quick nod before returning to his conversation with Kankuro.

Hinata should've sighed in relief at the sight, but she really wasn't feeling any better.

She felt like she was slowly and gradually separating from the world that she had always called home…the people she had always called family…

* * *

During the short interval between breakfast and training, Temari found herself on a mission. That mission was to find Hinata and question her about the "relationship" between her and the Uchiha. If it proved to be true, then her next mission would be to find Sasuke, and threaten that if any harm were to befall Hinata, then he would be her first target.

Temari scoured almost every inch of the temple, looking for either of her two targets. She was beginning to get frustrated, eventually finding herself stomping through the halls due to her lack of success at finding them. She swept by a bewildered Shikamaru, who called after her, and despite her natural inclination to stop and see him, she sped on.

Her brow lowered with each moment that passed by, not really taking notice of the temple residents that she passed. At one point, she passed by a solemn-looking Neji, who watched her with perceptive suspicion.

Eventually, she turned down a corridor that would lead to an exit out into the courtyard. One wall was lined with large windows that overlooked the courtyard, and there, leaning against one of the windowsills was Hinata with Sasuke just next to her. They seemed to have been involved in an amiable conversation, both of their postures relaxed with ease.

The moment she turned that corner, Sasuke, being on high alert at all times, snapped his attention to her with narrowed eyes. She could see his muscles tensing like she was invading on his territory. In reality, Sasuke simply didn't like others seeing him be friendly with someone, but Temari figured that he didn't like anyone coming near his girlfriend, if that's even what she was.

Seeing Sasuke's gaze focused elsewhere, Hinata turned in the same direction. As soon as she saw Temari, she smiled widely in greeting. "Temari!"

Temari refused to smile back, because she didn't want anything deterring her from her mission. Luckily for her, she happened to find the two targets together. That made things easier.

She stomped her way to them, not stopping until she was standing just in front of them. Only then did she plant her palms on her hips and look the picture of determination. "We need to talk."

Hinata's brows lifted in surprise, while her insides clenched in foreboding. "What's wrong, Temari?"

"Nothing's wrong, per se…" she gave a quick glance to Sasuke before settling back on her younger friend. "I just think we need to clear up a few things."

"Clear up?" Hinata asked confusedly.

"Just answer 'yes' or 'no', Hina."

"O-Okay…" Confusion turned to nervousness as Hinata stared up at her dear friend.

Temari resisted the urge to smirk, and instead narrowed her eyes before interrogating. "Did you confess to him already?" She asked, motioning to Sasuke.

Hinata paled as her eyes widened. "T-Temari,"

Temari continued. "I saw you guys this morning, all friendly with each other, so does that mean you're together now?"

Sasuke scowled and was about to reply with a negative and then insult the maddening blonde, but he saw Hinata's expression first, and that stopped him. He saw the way she blushed with embarrassment and how she discreetly sent him a look of pleading.

With her face completely painted red, Hinata lowered her gaze bashfully. "I-I-I confessed…" she gulped, sending another look of help towards Sasuke. She was panicking majorly, knowing that if she didn't act as though she were in love with Sasuke, then Temari would begin suspecting other, even more worse, things. She had to say something! "We, um…We're t-t-togeth—"

With a quick roll of the eyes and a deep sigh to follow, Sasuke quickly caught on to what Hinata was wanting, and against his better judgment, decided to play along. If playing along meant that Temari would leave and he would have his turn at interrogating Hinata, then so be it. The sooner, the better.

With surprise, Temari watched as Sasuke interrupted Hinata's nervous stammer by throwing an arm around the dark-haired deity's waist, effectively pulling her against his body. Despite the casual intimacy, Sasuke's face looked indifferent as always, minus a smirk of sardonic amusement. "As you can see, little Hina here is still embarrassed about our…new arrangement."

Temari's eyes narrowed even further with skepticism before speaking dryly and with obvious sarcasm. "Little Hina?"

"_Little Hina"? _Hinata stared up at Sasuke with surprised questioning. As thankful as she was that he was helping her, it felt strange to hear him give her a nickname, or a romantic endearment of some sort. It also made her uncomfortable to be touched by him in such a way, as well. It was further proof to both Hinata and Sasuke that they would only _ever _tolerate being friends. Anything closer was just awkward.

Still incredibly skeptical, but hiding it fairly well, Temari questioned further. "So…you two are a couple then?"

"What we do in our own time is none of your business." Sasuke answered curtly.

Temari had been staring at the way Sasuke was holding Hinata, feeling confused at how impersonal it seemed—too impersonal for a couple. After hearing Sasuke's remark, however, she glared at him. "Whatever _this _is," she motioned to the two in front of her. "Just remember, Sasuke Uchiha, that if anything happens to Hina, you're dead meat, ya hear?"

In response, he merely rose a brow. "Whatever."

Temari scowled at him again, getting ready to turn around and leave. Before that, however, she looked at Hinata closely, perceptively. "See ya later, Hina."

"Okay," Hinata smiled shakily, watching Temari walk sedately down the corridor.

Sasuke looked at Hinata out of the corner of his eye. "Come on." He began to steer her towards the opposite way Temari had gone. "You can explain to me what the hell that was about."

"It's my fault. I'm sorry, I should have warned you about it earlier, but I never thought that Temari would do that…" Hinata mumbled in a rush, feeling comfortable again as soon as Sasuke's arm left her waist.

"Just to be clear," Sasuke began, seeming awkward and uncomfortable with what he had to ask. "You don't have anything to confess to me, right?"

Hinata smiled reluctantly. "Nothing like that, no."

"Thank the Goddess." Sasuke's sigh of relief was audible, which made Hinata giggle.

There was a pause before Hinata explained further. "I wanted advice from Temari about my feelings, but I didn't want her to know about Itachi, so…" she looked up at him apologetically. "I kind of used you as a, um…"

"Scapegoat?"

"Yes," She averted her gaze guiltily. "I'm sorry."

"Hn," Sasuke thought about the situation further, and didn't like what he had found out. "So you have feelings for him. And these are not feelings of friendship, are they?"

Hinata shook her head reluctantly. "No."

Sasuke stayed silent, internally wanting to call her all sorts of names beginning with fool and ending with idiot, but he chose not to. No good would come of it, since he had come to learn how stubborn this little healing deity was…especially when it came to Itachi. In the end, all he ended up saying was, "Good luck with that."

Sensing his sarcasm and displeasure, Hinata could only smile half-heartedly in agreement.

* * *

After Temari had rounded the corner, she found herself walking at a slow pace with no obvious destination in mind. At the moment, her mind was too occupied with what to make of Hinata and Sasuke's relationship.

"Hey," a voice stopped her train of thought.

She looked up with no expression, seeing Neji walking toward her. "What do you want?"

Neji finally came up to her, his expression matching hers. "You talked to Hinata."

"And Sasuke. What of it?"

Neji narrowed his eyes at her sharp attitude, but chose to ignore it. "Are they…?" he cleared his throat, seemingly uneasy with what he was asking.

"A couple?" Temari supplied with a raised brow and a humorless tilt to her lips.

Neji simply stared at her with intensity.

Temari shrugged, looking a mixture of confusion, hurt, and suspicion. "They said they were, but…" she shook her head, starting to talk as if she was explaining it to herself. "Something's not right. Hina said she was in love with someone, and I believe it wholeheartedly, but I don't think it's with Sasuke…" she thought of how they were with each other, doing all the motions of a couple, but the spectacle was hollow; there was no feeling there.

"How would you know?" Neji asked quietly, his head bent, hiding his tortured eyes.

Temari scoffed suddenly. "I'm in a relationship with somebody I happen to love. I think I would have a little experience in these matters."

Neji looked up at her then, feeling even more suspicion well up inside him, though his face looked serious. "You think it's a ruse."

She shrugged again. "It makes more sense to me, but if that's the case, then…" she shook her head again. "She's hiding something."

"Why don't you confront her about it?"

"No."

Neji frowned. "Why the hell not?"

Temari matched his frown. "Because if she wanted me to know what's really going on, then she would've told me!" she relaxed quickly with a sigh, though her brows were still furrowed. "She probably thinks I'll disapprove." She muttered. "_You_ should confront her about it."

"Why me?" Neji's frown didn't disappear.

Temari smiled slightly, starting to walk by him and patting him on his shoulder. "You're less judgmental than me…and…you might be more understanding, too."

He scoffed. "Think so?"

"No, but it's worth a shot." Their eyes met, and for once, they agreed on a shared purpose. Temari thought through the options, knowing that Gaara would be sleeping tonight, so in that case… "Go talk to her tonight, after everyone's gone to bed."

Neji was about to reply, but she had already walked away having seen her beloved Shikamaru.

Temari approached Shikamaru with a tired smile. His deceptively calculating eyes read her easily, and in response, he lazily walked away from Ino and Naruto, who he was talking with. He placed his hand on her lower back as if it always belonged there, and leaned toward her to whisper. "What happened?"

Her smile became more genuine as she gazed at his bold features and her eyes softened with feeling. Resting her palm against his cheek and using her fingers to stroke his skin, she answered. "I'll tell you later."

He smirked at her lovingly. "I'd rather you tell me now. Anything would be better than having to watch those two—" he nodded his head towards Ino and Naruto. "fondle each other and act innocent while doing it."

Temari laughed before pressing her body against his and whispering suggestively in his ear. "Then maybe we should go do the same somewhere else, hm?"

Needless to say, Shikamaru spent half a second making his decision, which ended in him dragging Temari away to seclusion, while she laughed behind him in enjoyment.

* * *

During the day, the waterfall was just as beautiful as it was during the night, except in a different way. Itachi, of course, never took much notice. He had appreciation for nature, like every other demon, but lately, nature held no appeal for him. His mind had become occupied with other thoughts as of late—thoughts that overwhelmed him in a way that he detested.

Brows lowered over his deep red eyes, he focused on preparing his meal, which was a large dead boar resting between his knees, the corpse partially floating in the water. Itachi brandished a knife, using the blade to skin the animal with deft accuracy. Blood dotted his hands as he worked, and occasionally, he would tear off a piece of raw animal muscle to eat, savoring the blood that seasoned it so perfectly.

Amidst his meal preparations, his mind couldn't help but want to focus more on Hinata's emotions that drifted through his mind like they had always been there. Nothing unusual was occurring, according to her emotions, which should've made him feel at ease, but it didn't. Instead, it made him angry how easily she seemed to be reacting to their "little" argument from the previous night. It was the first time they had argued like that, and he hadn't stopped thinking about it since it happened.

He was so furious at first, and then he was repentant, which only made him angry again._ The little fool…_ He scowled, his knife working more brutally the longer he contemplated about his little deity.

He couldn't believe that she had the gall to tell him that _he _was more of a danger to her than his detested half-brother. Though he understood it, it still didn't make hearing it from her any better. Most of all, it angered him beyond belief at how she showered praises on Sasuke, while accusing him of being a little possessive and protective.

He cursed under his breath, giving his knife a quick clean before continuing his work on the animal. It made him jealous, and he knew it. Initially, it caught him by surprise at how possessive she made him feel. If it were up to him, he would keep her locked in a room with him for the rest of her life, making it so that she would never be around any other male besides him.

The idea appealed to him more than he liked to admit. He paused in his work to reorder his thoughts.

Itachi knew that he was adamant about not coming to retrieve her tonight, and yet…he did need to set certain things straight with her. She needed to learn why he said what he did, and if she resisted, then he would have to take further measures.

He was getting impatient and restless, staying in one place so long, waiting for the right opportunity to pressure her into choosing whether to stay in Konoha or leave with him.

Itachi would give her a little more time—a week, perhaps. Maybe two, at the most. Unless, of course, something drove him to make the deadline sooner.

He would leave it up to her.

The final decision would be hers to make.

* * *

Hours later, Itachi paced outside the Konoha wall, debating whether to retrieve her or not. After what he had said to her, it would damage his pride to come to her the next night; especially since it would appear that he couldn't resist seeing her, which wasn't true, of course.

On the other hand, if he did go to retrieve her, he would settle their previous dispute with no room for any more arguments. Also, he would force them back into their usual routine, because it was the only way for him to ignore his inner primal urges when it came to his deity. Training her was the last barricade he had to keep from taking her wherever she stood, right there and right then.

It was irritating how his self-control had practically evaporated to nothing when she was around. It was never like that with any other female he encountered in his long life; Hinata was the first to make his self-controlled image crumble. She made him revert back to his most basic of demon instincts—hunt, take, possess.

A twinge of worried despair swept through him, and it made his stomach clench, knowing that the feeling derived from Hinata. The temple residents should be asleep by now, but Hinata wasn't.

With an agitated and imperceptible sigh, Itachi leaped on top of the wall, taking only a moment to jump to her balcony. He landed without making a sound; in fact, his sudden appearance seemed to go completely unnoticed by the occupant of the bedroom.

His eyes found her immediately, her lithe and supple form lying on her side and underneath her bed covers. Her moonlight eyes were barely half-open, focused dazedly on the pendant clenched in her hand.

He entered further into her room quietly, approaching her bed with silent steps. When she still hadn't noticed his presence, he stopped just a few feet from her bed. "Hinata,"

Her eyes slowly moved to locate him, and when she did, she stayed very still. He could sense from her emotions that she was surprised to see him there, and then came hope and happiness, though she was obviously preventing it from showing on her face.

Finally, she began to sit up, pushing away her covers and touching her feet to the cold floor. A thin, white nightgown was the only garment covering her body, and Itachi seemed to notice that. His eyes drank in the sight of her from head to toe, animalistic hunger burning in his blood-red depths and simmering just below his skin.

Hinata shivered and gulped, noticing the predatory instinct lurking behind his gaze. Swallowing nervously, she walked toward him until she was finally in front of him, the two looking at each other in silence as if an entire conversation was being held between their minds.

They gauged each other, then resisted stubbornly. Then came understanding, an impasse, an agreement.

Hinata began to smile, her wide eyes softening. "Itachi," she whispered, slipping her arms around his neck and fitting her body against his in a pacifying embrace. Her head came to rest against his chest and her eyes closed peacefully. "I was starting to think you had left again…for good this time."

He rested his hand against her back, letting his fingers play with her hair. "Not yet." He murmured deeply. He was fascinated with the way her hair fell through his fingers, like a dark and silky waterfall. Forcing his captivation to end, he endeavored to put distance between them, but he simply didn't want to. "Not yet…"

* * *

_Who is she talking to?_ Listening outside the door, Neji could make out Hinata's voice, but he could not recognize the other voice. It was definitely a male voice, but not one he had ever heard before.

Obeying Temari's command, Neji had decided to confront Hinata after everyone had gone to bed. His fist came within an inch of knocking on the door when he had heard voices inside. He had paused and chose to listen before intruding. He had wondered first if she was in danger, but he learned that it didn't seem she was. She was simply just talking to someone…but to whom?

He didn't find the male voice comforting at all, which made him think back to Temari's earlier suspicions.

"_**Hina said she was in love with someone…"**_

"…_**but I don't think it's with Sasuke…"**_

"_**Hina said she was in love…"**_

"_**She's hiding something."**_

"…_**she was in love…"**_

Neji's eyes alighted with confirmed suspicion. Whoever was in her room was what she was hiding…the one she was supposedly in love with.

Rage overwhelmed him as his jaw and muscles tensed with preparation.

He opened the door with deceptive calm.

Releasing the handle, he swung the door behind him, letting it close on its own.

As soon as Neji entered the bedroom, he noticed Hinata being held in the arms of another man, a lover's embrace. At first, he thought the man was Sasuke, but this one was taller, more threatening.

Red eyes glowed through the darkness, settling on Neji before the young guardian even opened the door. Neji stared back. Hinata looked up, noticing her guardian's presence with panicked eyes.

"Neji!"

Time seemed to freeze, despite that events were unfolding in rapid succession.

As if all at once, Neji noticed several things. First, he did not know this man, never met him before in his life. Second, Hinata was apparently in love with him, though there was no proof to back up that assumption. And then…Neji thought back to all the moments in which Hinata alluded to this mysterious man. The childhood friend…the pendant...her distant looks…her being so accepting of the half-demons…Sasuke's original accusations…

It clicked in his mind at the same time that Neji really took notice of the abnormally red eyes and the significant tattoo that barely showed itself on his wrist…

"A demon." Neji murmured quietly, events slowly starting to speed up.

Itachi kept his alert gaze on the newcomer, unconsciously tightening his grip on Hinata, preparing himself to put her behind him should the temple resident decide to do something stupid. He knew he should've sensed him coming, but he had been so enthralled in the feeling of having Hinata so close that all his other senses seemed to shut off.

Hearing the door open was what made Itachi finally snap his gaze to Hinata's incoming guardian. It didn't take long at all for the red-eyed demon to know that trouble was about to start. However, feeling Hinata start to push away from him made him realize that she was going to try to make peace with the situation. One look at the guardian told Itachi that there was no peace to be made between them…not that Itachi wanted there to be, anyway.

"Neji," Hinata muttered, still panicked about the situation. Breaking away from Itachi's protective grip, she slowly moved towards Neji as if she were approaching a dangerous animal. She even held her palms out toward her guardian in a soothing manner. "Neji, let me explain…please don't be angry…please, let me…"

Neji wasn't even watching her, barely even listening. He kept most of his focus on the demon, who was doing the same to him. An attack was going to be made, but Hinata was right in the middle, and both of them knew that.

Tenderly diminutive hands fell to Neji's chest, the movement forcing him to finally glance at the deity. Whatever Hinata saw in his eyes made hers widen further in fear.

"Neji, it's alright…"

Neji began to ignore her pleas, turning his gaze back to the predator ahead of him. The demon looked calm and relaxed, his expression showing absolutely nothing. Neji, on the other hand, knew he looked fierce and ready to attack at the first opportunity.

"I'm okay, Neji…please listen to me…"

"Get out, Hinata." Neji bit out the words.

"Neji, no, please—"

"Leave."

"No…Itachi and I were just—"

Hearing Hinata call the demon by his name must have been the trigger, because before Hinata could finish her sentence, Neji pushed her harshly to the side before charging toward the menace in her bedroom.

Ordinarily, Itachi would've held off the guardian without causing too much damage, if only to please Hinata, but likewise, there was a trigger for Itachi's fury as well. It was the combination of seeing someone else put their hands on her as well as cause her harm that made him want to cause his opponent as much damage as possible. Though debatably rational, his only thought was _No one touches what belongs to me._

After hitting the ground with a measure of force, Hinata quickly pushed herself up so as to face what she knew was already occurring. Lo and behold, Neji was charging Itachi, and it made her panic even more than before. "Neji!" she cried out, despite knowing that they were no longer focusing on her.

Instead, she could only force herself to stand up and watch helplessly as Neji ran toward Itachi, intending to make the first attack. Unfortunately, her dear guardian was in way over his head with _this _demon. In fact, Hinata knew of not one being that could stand a chance against Itachi, and that knowledge made her seriously fear for Neji's wellbeing.

Itachi could kill Neji easily, and it appeared that he was proceeding to do so.

With expert ease, Itachi side-stepped each one of Neji's blows, his body moving in a blur of speed and agility. His expression remained deadly calm and purposeful, as if he was partaking in a game that he knew all too well. It showed in the way that after a mere couple seconds passed, Itachi delivered a quick and powerful kick to Neji's chest, sending the guardian flying back into the wall.

A sword was pulled out and swung around, the point of the blade digging in to Neji's neck. If Neji's widely shocked eyes were anything to go by, the whole cascade of movements happened too quick for the human eye to catch—much less react to.

Feeling the sharp point of the sword pressing into the part of his neck just below the shadow of his jaw, Neji gulped before becoming completely motionless, though a scowl was quickly forming on his features. A ticklish trail of warm sensation began to trickle down his neck, alerting him that the blade had punctured his skin enough to make him bleed, but not to kill…yet.

Breathing roughly, Neji forced himself to look into the demon's eyes with revulsion and contempt. The same look was being mirrored in Itachi's expression, except for the minor glint that hinted at repetitious boredom.

"Demon," Neji spat the word as if it was offensive to say and hear. There was so much else Neji wanted to say, but every movement of his throat made the blade dig a little deeper.

Hinata was amazed to see that the spectacle had only lasted a few seconds; Itachi was that fast. However, as soon as it did, she moved toward them while her brain worked to determine a way to mollify the situation.

She checked Neji first, seeing that he wasn't injured badly, though he was helpless, before turning her full attention to Itachi. She knew that she had to do something to get Itachi to back away before he did any worse than he had already done.

Still moving quickly, Itachi kept constant eye contact with the human, taking pleasure in the boy's ignorance, since he wasn't looking anywhere but at Itachi's eyes. _Perfect._

Then it happened.

With horrified wonder, Neji watched as the demon's eyes seemed to transform—going from bloody red to slowly moving commas, then faster and faster. Before the dark-haired guardian quite knew how to counter it, he was sucked into a world that knew only torturous pain and endless agony. It was a world that existed outside of reality, personally created by its user.

A fearful groan from Neji alerted Hinata's attention back to him, and she was confusedly terrified to see her guardian in such a state as she had never seen him before. His eyes were wide and transfixed on Itachi's own eyes, his mouth open as if it were emitting a silent scream. Neji's face had become ghastly white and a cold sweat had quickly broken over his skin, while his entire body trembled from an unknown struggle.

Hinata had only seen this once before in her lifetime, and it was the first time she met Itachi…that unknown man from so long ago didn't survive this strange attack, which could only mean that…

If Hinata didn't put a stop to it soon, Itachi was going to _destroy _Neji. _What do I do? How do I stop it?_

In a flurry of panicked activity, Hinata pulled at Itachi's free arm, though the demon didn't budge. "Itachi, stop it!"

"Please, Itachi! You'll kill him!" she moved in front of him to try to shake him back to reality. Still, it didn't work.

Getting more flustered with every pained groan that escaped her guardian's lips, Hinata began to pound on her demon's chest, pleading with him in a desperate cry. "Please! Stop it, Itachi, please!" Nearly being brought to tears of hopelessness, Hinata inhaled shakily, her palms flattening against the chest in front of her. Her forehead came to rest below his throat, her mind working to figure out some way to stop Neji from getting killed.

_This is all my fault…My fault…I'm so stupid…Neji will die because of me…It's all my fault…_

She lifted her head despairingly, looking up into Itachi's somewhat-bored-yet-determined face. The black commas in his eyes were spinning, and the eye contact wasn't going to break between the two males until Itachi made it so.

She had to distract him somehow. Divert his attention in any way so that the eye contact will be broken. But…what could possibly be shocking enough to break Itachi out of his intent to kill? It had to be something not even _he _would expect…but what?

Then she knew.

With hesitant resolve, Hinata gulped at the same time that her hands clenched onto the clothes covering his chest, feeling the hard muscle just beneath her knuckles. Lifting herself up on her toes, her face neared his and her eyes began to close.

Slowly, the outside world seemed to fade away; there was no noise, no worries, no fears, nothing except feeling.

Finally, her eyes closed fully as her lips touched against Itachi's own.

Suddenly, red eyes widened and the black commas disappeared. The sensation against his mouth had completely pulled him back to reality, and what shocked him most of all was seeing his little deity pressed against the front of his body, her soft and pleasurable lips pressed to his mouth. He had thought constantly about what her lips would feel like, so having it actually happen made his blood practically boil over with suppressed lust and longing.

His hand that was holding his sword dropped down to his side, while his other hand moved up to wrap around her upper arm.

The movement made Hinata pull back curiously, feeling peaceful happiness at seeing that Itachi's eyes were back to normal, softening with unreadable emotion, and focused entirely on her. She parted her lips to speak, but he had already inclined his head toward her, possessively capturing her mouth with his.

Hinata didn't resist; in fact, she offered herself up to him wholeheartedly. She had dreamed about what his kisses would be like, and her dreaming did not do him justice.

She pressed herself closer against him, wanting to feel more of him, as much as possible.

Feeling her eagerness, Itachi responded with his own, urging her against him, invading her mouth smoothly, wanting to taste everything. It wasn't enough, he kept thinking to himself. He needed more of her—not just her mouth, but her entire body, her heart, her very soul. He needed to possess her, and the thought alone caused him to hungrily devour what she was offering at the moment.

The way he feasted on her mouth made Hinata forget about everything around her, and while she had never kissed or been kissed before, he led her through it, teasing her into different angles. She was lost in the sensations, her world consisting of nothing but Itachi, her demon.

As soon as Neji had been released from the illusive prison in his mind (or the demon's), his eyes blurred as they tried to focus on the present. The sword disappeared from this throat, causing him to sag down to the floor.

There was pain, so much pain… He glanced up, seeing Hinata and the demon in a heart-stopping embrace.

Neji saw it all before sinking into a world of pain-ridden darkness.

Hinata and Itachi broke from the kiss, requiring some much needed air. They stared at each other intensely, both breathing heavily. A knot formed between Itachi's brows, as if inwardly confused at how much he wanted her, and how that need made him lose all his self-control. He knew in that moment that no one would take her away from him. She was _his_.

Hinata, for her part, was trying to regain sense of her surroundings. However, staring into his eyes, so many things became clear to her, more so than before. She was in love with this demon—completely and undeniably in love with him. She wanted to give him everything she had and all of herself. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, never parting from him for a moment…She wanted him to be a part of her life in so many ways…and yet…

There was something she was forgetting. She tried to clear her mind that had become so fogged by Itachi's ministrations and remember…remember…

She gasped, her eyes widening. "Neji!" Pushing away from Itachi, she turned around to find her guardian, seeing the poor man slumped on the ground in unconsciousness. She ran to him, gently pulling his head onto her lap and stroking his hair from his face. He was pale and feverish, but alive. "Neji…" she whimpered.

Her instincts were to heal, but she had no idea how to heal him, or even_ what _to heal. "Itachi, what do I do? Itachi—" she stopped, seeing that her demon had left without a word. Her lower lip began to tremble as she thought through what needed to be done.

Firstly, Neji needed to get off the floor and onto a bed, and then she would heal him until he was better.

She nodded to herself. _ The bed. _She backed away, attempting to lift his limp form, but it was to no avail; he was simply too heavy for her. Frustrated, she ran a hand through her hair, thinking that she could go to Gaara for help, but…_He's sleeping tonight. There's no way I could possibly wake him._

That left only one option, or more specifically, one person.

Quickly pillowing a blanket underneath Neji's head and throwing another over his body, Hinata quietly left her room, inwardly finding it strange that the fight hadn't woken anyone. Putting the thought aside, she nearly ran to the bedroom door of her target and proceeded to knock briskly but not loud enough to wake any others.

It only took a moment before the door cracked open, and a dark sleep-ridden eye peeked through, along with a disturbed scowl overtaking the familiar features. "What?"

"Sasuke, I need your help!" she whispered hurriedly.

The young half-demon blinked once, his brow softening as he finally took notice of the fear etched onto her face. Without wasting time, he exited his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

If Neji's health wasn't at stake, Hinata would've blushed at seeing the Uchiha shirtless, with only shorts on, but she didn't.

"What's going on?" he murmured, walking by her side as they sped down the hallway to her bedroom.

Hinata's brow furrowed. "Neji's hurt."

There was more to the story than that, but she didn't seem to want to say much about it until her guardian was safe. _Fine, wake me up in the middle of the night, and ask for my help, but don't tell me why or what happened… _If the situation would allow it, he would've been grumbling by now.

Minutes later, Sasuke and Hinata had levered themselves underneath Neji's shoulders before carrying him to the bed. Taking on most of the weight, Sasuke carried the unconscious body before depositing him on Hinata's bed. Afterward, Hinata removed Neji's shoes and other uncomfortable articles before dragging the blankets over his body. Still not saying a word, she pulled over a chair so that she could sit at Neji's side.

However, Sasuke reached out for her before she had the chance to sit down. He forced her to look at him before talking. "What…is going on?"

She bit her lip before replying hesitantly. "Itachi came to get me," she backed out of Sasuke's grip, so that she could sit on the bed near Neji. She placed her hand over his forehead to gauge his temperature. "Neji...saw everything…so he attacked him."

Sasuke snorted, "The fool. He obviously had no idea who he was dealing with."

Hinata didn't watch as Sasuke ended up sitting in the chair that she had brought over, while she remained on the bed. "He has a fever." She muttered to herself before fully resting her hand on Neji's brow to begin healing the illness, while her other hand went to heal the small cut on his neck.

Sasuke frowned speculatively. "What did he do to him?" he asked before clarifying. "You guardian doesn't look physically injured, so how did he end up with a fever?"

There was a moment of silent contemplation before Hinata answered quietly. "I'm not sure what it was, exactly. I've seen it twice now, but I still don't know how it works or what it does." She paused, thinking back to what she saw in those two times. "Itachi…just looks into their eyes, and then…I think it's supposed to kill them or something." She shrugged. "I don't know…"

Sasuke gazed at his lap pensively…remembering. He gulped and cleared his throat before looking at her. "It's a special ability of Itachi's, one that even my father wasn't able to obtain. Itachi is the only one I know who has that ability."

"What is it?" she nearly whispered.

He shook his head. "I'm not entirely certain myself." His gaze moved to watch her hands healing her guardian. "But I know that it targets the mind, and that is where most of the damage occurs."

Hinata appeared horrified. "How can I heal it?"

"You can't. At least…not completely." Seeing her confused stare, he continued. "You can heal him physically, but the rest he has to take care of on his own."

Having finished healing her guardian, Hinata could only stare down at his comatose form morosely. "When will he wake up?" When she had not received an answer, she turned to look at her companion expectantly.

Sasuke stared back emotionlessly. "That's up to your guardian…and it depends on how much damage was done." He paused as if considering something. Then, he gave her a sardonic smirk. "You made a very dangerous friend, Hinata." _Made even more dangerous by the fact that he's obviously taken a special liking to you…_

* * *

"_One kiss breaches the distance between friendship and love."_

_- Unknown_

"_The decision to kiss for the first time is the most crucial in any love story. It changes the relationship of two people much more strongly than even the final surrender; because this kiss already has within it that surrender."_

_- Emil Ludwig_

* * *

**Thank you for reading! Review if you have the time and inclination!**

**See you all next chapter!**

**Tranquilwriter**


	29. Recovery

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Warning: This is kind of a long one, guys. I debated whether or not to break it off earlier, but figured that some of you might like it this long, so here ya go!**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XXVIII**

**Recovery**

* * *

"_Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery."_

_-Joanne Kathleen Rowling_

* * *

Sasuke hadn't slept—not even dozed—since Hinata had woken him in the middle of the night to help with her guardian's "issues". Instead, he seemed to occupy himself as guardian of the room, taking up a position by Hinata's balcony. He sat on the wide, stone railing, back to the wall, one knee up and the other hanging down off the side. His arms lay relaxed as he stared at the sky, which was brightening with the dawn.

It would be time for breakfast soon, and Neji still hadn't awoken, which, needless to say, was troubling. Sasuke had hoped for his own sake, more than Hinata's, that her guardian would wake up soon, so that he wouldn't have to trouble himself with making excuses to the others.

Glancing over to the bed, where Neji lay unconscious beneath the covers, Sasuke gazed at Hinata, who was sitting slouched on the bedside chair with the upper half of her body lying on the bed. She had only fallen asleep an hour ago, and Sasuke knew that it was against her will. Apparently, the recent events had drained her to the point where the temptation to close her eyes was simply too much. Sasuke didn't mind; she obviously needed the sleep more than he did.

Still staring at her sleeping form, the young Uchiha sighed as he realized that they would have to think of something to tell the adults when the time came. That, of course, meant that _he _would have to come up with something, since Hinata wasn't exactly creative when it came to lying. In fact, she could barely lie to save her life. Why fate had chosen _her _to keep such monumental secrets, Sasuke would never know. _The Goddess' good humor_, he supposed.

Perhaps that was how it was meant to be. After all, a healing deity was supposed to be pure of heart, and Hinata would hardly fit that description if she were a good liar. Still, though…why would fate select a healing deity—of all people!—to guard a secret about a friendship with a demon? What purpose could that possibly serve?

Sasuke didn't believe in fate or the goddess' "plan" as much as the other temple residents, or humans for that matter; instead, he believed in choices and consequences. However, the chances of Hinata being the one to somehow manage to befriend a highly dangerous demon…It was almost _too _coincidental, _too _impossible, _too _meaningful…

_Yeah, _Sasuke thought unenthusiastically. _I am definitely going to have to handle the lying on this one. Damn it all._

* * *

Hinata jolted awake at the sound of her bedroom door closing loudly. Blinking rapidly to clear her sleep-heavy vision, she turned around curiously. Walking towards the bed at a determined pace was Sasuke, who was followed by Kakashi and Asuma.

Inwardly, Sasuke thought that he should've asked Gai to help, since his loud banter might have been enough to wake up Neji, but oh well, maybe later.

Hinata stood up while sleepily rubbing her eyes. "What's going on?"

Sasuke came to stand beside her, while the two older men began to haul Neji into their arms. "They're going to carry him to his own room, because apparently, it's improper for him to be in your room, even though he's unconscious."

"Oh." She was about to nod in understanding, but then she realized something. _Do they know about what happened last night? Did Sasuke tell them? I'll be in so much trouble!_

Recognizing the panic on her face, Sasuke whispered out of earshot of the two men. "Don't worry. I handled everything."

"What did you tell them?" she whispered back.

"Exactly what you told me." He spoke each word meaningfully, as if he was trying to ingrain it into her mind.

Rather, she simply furrowed her brows at him in a questioning and confused manner.

Rolling his eyes, he elaborated, but not until Kakashi and Asuma had departed from the room with the invalid between them. Only grumbles had sounded in their wake. Glancing back to her, Sasuke began. "I told the matriarch and patriarch that, _according to you_, your guardian was really sick and came to your room to get healed. Unfortunately, the illness was too much and he ended up passing out from the fever. So, to them, he's just sleeping the rest of it off, and should be fine in a day or two." He paused, before adding. "Oh, and they're going to let you babysit him until he's better, or at least, awake."

"Thank you so much, Sasuke." Hinata murmured sincerely, before voicing another question. "But…what if he's not awake in a day or two?"

Sasuke shrugged as the two began to exit her bedroom, heading in the direction of Neji's room. "Then, you could say that his illness is worse than you thought?" He stated with a questioning tone.

Hinata's brows nearly rose to her hairline out of fearful shock. "You think it'll come to that?"

He snorted in bemusement. "I seriously doubt that it'll take more than a day for him to wake up, so relax."

"You really think so?" she asked hopefully.

"Yeah…" Sasuke muttered, hoping once again for his own sake that Neji would wake up soon. Hinata could really be a full-time occupation with how she seemed to be a magnet for trouble all the time. It was hard work. _What's sad is that it's completely my choice as to whether or not I want to help her. I suppose it's the same for Gaara, too. We're choosing to get involved, because for some reason, she makes us want to protect her._

When they reached Neji's room, Kakashi and Asuma had already put Neji into bed and were about to leave. Asuma filed out first, offering them both a nod of acknowledgement before departing. Kakashi, however, stopped in front of Hinata and put his hand on her shoulder in a sympathetic manner. "I know you'll nurse him right back to health."

Hinata nodded with a smile. "I will."

The corners of Kakashi's eyes crinkled with a smile before he moved on to Sasuke. "You'll be sparring with Naruto today, since Hinata will be busy."

Sasuke gave the man an indifferent stare, but his tone was sarcastic. "Lucky me."

Seeing that Hinata had left them to go sit by Neji's side, Kakashi leaned over to whisper conspiratorially in his student's ear. "I heard you two are a couple now. Is it true?"

Sasuke scoffed quietly, not wanting to alert Hinata's attention to their incognito conversation. "That's none of your business."

Kakashi seemed to be smirking slyly. "So it is true." He chuckled before teasingly poking Sasuke on the cheek. "I always knew you'd eventually get a crush on one of the girls. How cute."

Sasuke jerked away, then glowered at his mentor. "Go away."

But, Kakashi decided to go a little further by leaning to whisper in Sasuke's ear again, making sure to cover the side of his mouth with his hand. "So, how is she in bed, anyway? Timid in public, a sexy tigress in private?"

Sasuke pushed the gray-haired man away in disgust, before yelling. "What is wrong with you?"

Hinata looked over in surprise and concern. "Are you okay, Sasuke?"

The young half-demon met her gaze before looking away quickly, arms crossed over his chest, and frustrated grumblings below his breath…and there might have been a light dusting of pink on his cheeks.

Kakashi seemed to giggle to himself, throwing an arm over Sasuke's shoulders. "He's just excited about training—nothing to worry about. Shall we go now, Sasuke?"

The young Uchiha pushed him away again. "Don't touch me." He scowled before striding from the room in a hurried manner with a laughing Kakashi following behind.

Hinata could only continue to stare after them in concern.

* * *

The afternoon passed by somewhat quickly. Hinata rarely left Neji's bedside, and when she did, it was to take care of personal matters (bathing, changing clothes, etc.). Other than that, she spent the majority of her time next to his bed; she even took all her meals in his room.

Nothing was physically wrong with him, really, so there was nothing more she could do to help him. Rather, she waited anxiously for him to open his eyes and tell her that he was alright, and only then would she be able to breath easily again.

Reaching out a hand to grasp onto his own, Hinata squeezed before murmuring in a whisper. "Neji…please wake up." She pulled his hand so that his knuckles were brushing against her cheek. "Neji, I'm so sorry…This was all my fault…You got hurt because of me, and my choices…"

There was silence as she held his limp hand between both of her hands, as if she was trying to convey comfort through their connection.

"Neji…" she murmured again, still gazing resolutely at his hand. "I do love you. You've been one of my best friends since I came to live here…You and Gaara have been like brothers to me." She began to smile slightly. "I lost a family in coming here, but I gained something so much bigger than that by staying…Another family…"

A sudden movement against her hands made her snap to attention. Loosely releasing his hand, she noticed one of his fingers flexing, and it made her gasp before averting her gaze to his sleeping face. Unfortunately, his eyes were still closed, but she could see his eyes moving restlessly behind his eyelids. It was such a relief to see him in a light sleep like this compared to his almost-dead-like coma prior.

Soon…He would be waking soon.

Later that evening, Sasuke rejoined Hinata, bringing dinner with him. They ate in near silence, breaking it only for occasional comments about Neji's health and progress, to which Sasuke didn't care at all, but Hinata just seemed so excited about it, he couldn't manage to tell her what he truly felt.

In either case, their easy moment of companionship ended with a couple knocks on the door to Neji's bedroom.

"Oh," Hinata stood up, surprised before returning to herself. "Um, uh, c-come in!"

The door creaked open, revealing Temari, Naruto, Shikamaru and Ino. Naruto was, of course, the first one to say anything. "Hey guys! Thought we'd come to check on the sickee!"

Ino looped her arm through Naruto's, cuddling herself against him. Despite the cute intimacy, her face expressed cautious worry and slight repulsion. "He's not contagious, is he?"

Hinata smiled before shaking her head. "No, he's completely healed and everything—he's just…resting."

The relief was plainly visible in Ino's blue eyes. "Thank the Goddess for that. Otherwise, I sure as hell wouldn't be here." She paused to glare at Naruto. "And neither would you."

He laughed, while rubbing the back of his head as a pleasant blush covered his cheeks. It was easy to tell how much he loved having someone so concerned for him.

Hinata's attention turned to the other couple. Shikamaru found his way to a nearby wall, in which to lean against lazily, while Temari walked breezily toward Hinata. "You've been taking care of yourself, too, right? You've been eating regularly?"

The dark-haired deity smiled. "Yes,"

"Good," the older girl wrapped an arm around Hinata's shoulders. "Just to let you know, the others were thinking about coming to visit, too. Although, they probably won't come by until tomorrow—it being kind of late and all."

"Oh, okay…" Hinata didn't object to anyone wanting to come to check on Neji, but at the same time, it made her nervous for some reason.

After a minute or so, Ino strode over to the two girls, while Naruto went over to Sasuke's position by the balcony. Leaning against the balcony railing, Sasuke had stayed silent, simply watching the commotion in the room. That is, until Naruto decided to come over and talk with his best friend. The blonde gave a little laugh as soon as he was by the young Uchiha. "I gotta admit, Sasuke. I'm a little surprised to see you here, standing guard or whatever it is you're doing." He paused, his face becoming rarely serious, and his tone quieting so no one would overhear them. "Especially since you weren't getting along with Hinata too well."

"Things change." He replied simply.

"I guess…" Naruto's brow furrowed in slight concern before erupting into a sly smile. "One day you're making Hinata out to be the enemy, and the next day, you're a couple." He nudged him playfully before seeing the questioning glare on the dark-haired man. "Ino told me."

"And how did she find out?"

Naruto shrugged. "She likes gossip, and…" he paused to glance lovingly at the aforementioned blonde. "She keeps herself very tuned in to _almost_ all secrets, and she especially loves the secrets that have to do something with romance." He shook his head with a happy smile. "Girls."

"Not all girls." Sasuke muttered, his own gaze drifting towards Hinata.

Naruto noticed and ended up looking at his friend curiously. "What changed your mind about her? I mean…after that whole necklace thing, I thought…,"

"We talked and sorted everything out." Sasuke explained before staring back at Naruto.

The blonde stared at him levelly, brows lowered over his bright blue eyes, as if he was trying to figure something out. "So…the necklace…?"

Sasuke knew that Naruto was really questioning the strange demon presence that originated from Hinata's, or rather Itachi's, pendant. He answered quickly. "It's not what I was suspecting." It wasn't necessarily a lie, since before, Sasuke assumed that Hinata was an accomplice of Itachi's; in other words, a traitor. However, the truth was so much more complicated than that.

Naruto looked relieved and returned back to his happy self. "That's good." He chuckled, while patting Sasuke on the back, making the Uchiha lurch forward with each pound. "And now you guys are a couple! It's so great! Hey, I got an idea!" He suddenly looked overly excited. "We should have our weddings at the same time, or something. Oh, and then our kids can grow up together, and I'll train my son to be a kick-ass fighter, so that your son won't stand a chance…It'll be awesome!"

Sasuke scowled while looking disturbed at the same time. "Like hell!"

"Why the hell not?" Naruto rose his voice louder, ready for a typical verbal battle with his long-time friend. "Afraid my son will kick your son's ass?"

"Shut up, you moron!" Sasuke retorted just as loudly, neither of the two realizing that they were drawing attention to themselves.

"It's a good idea, so why don't you want to do it?"

"That's none of your business, loser!"

"Just tell me, damn it!"

"Because I'm not going to marry her, you idiot!"

Naruto was silenced by surprise, and a shocked quiet filled the room. Sasuke turned to see that everyone in the room, minus the unconscious Neji, was staring at him with a mix of surprise, shock, amusement, and disappointment.

In fact, Ino looked affronted. "Well, that's just rude, Sasuke…and right in front of Hinata, too." She turned to Hinata. "Your boyfriend's a real jackass."

Temari frowned, looking at Hinata also. "You should dump him for that."

"What?" Hinata replied in a flustered manner. "Eh, um…I…" How was she supposed to respond to that? The whole thing was a farce anyway, so how many more lies did she have to tell just to keep this one going?

Sasuke growled to himself in agitation over the whole situation. He especially hated that he would have to defend a relationship that didn't even exist! They could be called friends, yes, but a couple? Absolutely not! Which was probably why he exploded with Naruto, completely forgetting about his and Hinata's agreement.

Goddess, she was trouble. How Neji, Temari and particularly Gaara managed to deal with her was unfathomable. How _he _managed to keep dealing with her, he had no idea. Stupid, crappy instincts is what it was…and not to mention the way she looked so vulnerable and helpless at times, which only increased said stupid, crappy instincts.

Naruto continued to watch as Sasuke seemed to brood and grumble under his breath. "Sasuke, I do not envy you right now. If I were to ever say that to Ino, I'd get my ass kicked a thousand times over, and she _still _wouldn't be done with me." He shivered with emphasis.

"Get. Out." Sasuke bit out the words, directing his hostility towards the entire room.

Knowing his brooding friend better than anyone, Naruto conceded without any argument, also knowing that Sasuke had reached the limit of his patience. With a few murmurs to Ino, Naruto escorted her from the room hurriedly, despite her protests at wanting to yell at Sasuke some more.

Shikamaru was already heading towards the door after giving a few words of encouragement to Hinata about her guardian. Temari was about to follow suit, but she had a couple things to say to Hinata first.

The healing deity was standing still, staring around the room nervously, sensing the rising tension that emanated from the young Uchiha. When her blonde friend approached her, Hinata smiled tiredly. "Thank you for coming, Temari."

"No problem. I know how much Neji means to you, even though he's a prick to almost everyone else." She paused, gathering her thoughts before continuing. "Hina…"

"Yes?"

"So, Neji was sick when he came to your room?" Temari was frowning suspiciously, though the frown was more concerned when facing Hinata.

Feeling uncomfortable with lying, like always, Hinata gulped before smiling shakily. "Yes, that's right. He wasn't feeling well at all, and he had a high fever."

Temari nodded, still incredibly skeptical, since she had been the one to tell Neji to confront Hinata that night about her relationship with Sasuke. When she talked to the guardian, he was not sick at all; he looked perfectly healthy, if a little irritated, but that was normal. She couldn't believe that he would suddenly come down with a fever…Did Sasuke do something to him?

Glaring at the Uchiha across the room, Temari tried to figure out what he could have done. But no, that couldn't be right. There was no way that Sasuke and Hinata were a couple, and if that was true, then there would be no way that Sasuke would feel the need to do harm to Neji. Unless, of course, Neji had become a threat to some secret they were keeping…

Sensing her gaze, Sasuke scowled at her. "What?"

She deepened her glare before ignoring him and facing Hinata once more. She smiled uneasily at her dear friend, thinking about how something seemed wrong with this situation. Something wasn't right…again. Temari was coming to realize that nothing concerning Hinata seemed right lately. "Well…Take good care of him, and yourself."

"I will." Hinata smiled back pleasantly.

"And get some rest, okay?" Temari continued, sounding like an older sister. "You can't take care of anyone properly without taking care of yourself first. Understand?"

"Yes," Hinata giggled. "I promise, Temari."

"Good." The older deity offered a small smile before patting the younger girl's head and leaving the bedroom after Shikamaru. "Goodnight, Hina!"

"Goodnight!" Hinata called back, watching the door close with finality. Only then did she sigh from mental exhaustion before turning to see if Sasuke had cooled off yet. From the looks of it, he was brooding again, thinking deeply about something that she obviously wasn't privy to. "Sasuke? Are you alright?"

He looked up at her eventually, looking as expressionless as ever. He gave her a quick nod before facing out at the disappearing sun.

It was silence after that.

But not long after, Tsunade came in to check on the situation; specifically, Neji's condition. "How is he?"

Hinata tried to smile through her fatigue. "He moved a little today, so I think he's getting better. I believe he might wake up very soon."

"How soon?"

"Tonight or tomorrow."

"Excellent. You've done a good job." Before Hinata could say thank you, Tsunade began again. "How long do you plan on staying tonight?"

Sasuke interrupted, answering for the both of them. "A few minutes—no more. We're going to bed."

"But—" Hinata began to protest, but Sasuke gave her a look that silenced her in a heartbeat.

Tsunade tried to hold back a smile. "You're going to bed together then?"

Hinata paled at the same time that Sasuke gave the matriarch a look of pure disgust and loathing. "The hell we are." He growled. _Is everyone at this temple a pervert?_

Tsunade laughed, enjoying the reactions of the two, making it aware to them how quickly news traveled at the temple. "Well, then, get to bed. I'll have someone come in to watch over Neji tonight, and we'll see you both in the morning. Fair enough?"

"Yes," Hinata's face returned to normal. "Thank you, Lady Tsunade."

"No problem." She was smirking at the two—one smiling uncomfortably, the other scowling as usual.

"Let's go." Sasuke muttered lowly, catching Hinata by the arm and practically dragging her from the room. "If I stay in there any longer, I swear that I am going to kill someone."

* * *

After night had fallen, Itachi finally reached his destination. It had taken him awhile to reach it—it being in a very obscure and hard-to-get-to place…even for demons. But, the journey was nearly finished.

The decision to make the journey was made not even an hour after he had departed from Hinata's bedroom the previous night. It was made not even an hour after he had claimed her lips with his. The kiss had been both a confirmation and motivation for Itachi.

The feeling that Hinata had put into the kiss was confirmation of what he wanted from her, and the way it made _him _feel was utter and complete motivation to take action. He wanted her, so he was going to take her. If she objected, then she would just have to learn to adapt and deal with it. Or, at least, that's what his demon blood was calling out for him to do. However, he wasn't entirely certain that he would be able to force her to do anything against her will; especially if it had the power to emotionally destroy her.

Whatever the ending results would be, it was his plan to take care of his side and ensure that all the preparations were met. He would make it so that she would never want for anything. Every need would be met before she even knew that she needed anything. He would make certain that she would live like royalty.

Unfortunately, there were steps to take before that could happen, and obstacles to overcome. There was really only one major obstacle that Itachi had to take care of before Hinata could come with him, and it was the point for this whole journey of his.

This short journey, of course, would also mean that he wouldn't be able to see his deity until the next night, though he would be back at his cave by morning. She would worry, as she usually did, but it was for the best…mostly for him, anyway.

He had known for some time that he desired her, but it wasn't until his lips were gliding against hers that he realized the depth of his desire and longing for Hinata. It astounded him, and if he were to be honest with himself, it was frightening as well. It was a revelation that expressed that he wasn't just lusting after her, like he thought; in fact, it went so much deeper than he cared to admit.

Now that he had a taste of her, he wanted more—so much more. It was because of this wanting that the journey was for the best; in other words, the time spent apart. He honestly didn't know if he would be able to stay in control around her any longer.

That's really what it came down to: his growing lack of self-control around his desirous deity.

Clenching his jaw and inhaling deeply, Itachi approached the large tent that lay under the dark blanket of night. The sentinel standing next to the opening stared at him in recognition before bowing his head in respect.

Itachi barely glanced at the servant, and instead, threw aside a flap of the tent, entering without so much as a sound of warning. The inside of the tent was bright with lit candles and torches, all the light centering on the regal demon standing over a table laden with maps. Red eyes met red eyes, one inquiring, the other determined.

"Madara,"

A dark brow rose mockingly. "Back so soon? Did you find your pendant?"

"I did, and I'd like to bring it back with me shortly."

Madara looked back at the maps, seeming unconcerned with the conversation. "I was hoping you would. I was also hoping that you'd let me know where it's been all this time."

"That would involve a proposition I have to offer."

The demon lord smirked slightly, still focusing on the maps. "A proposition, hm? I've heard so many of them lately that I'm beginning to lose interest."

"This one, you won't." Itachi said with confidence.

Madara looked up at his descendent, his eyes searching Itachi's face for any clues as to what was really going on. Then, he began to chuckle darkly below his breath. "My, my, Itachi. What have you gotten yourself into? And how can I reap the benefits?"

* * *

Hinata woke with the sun, her mind more active than it should be and her body screaming for more rest. Itachi hadn't come, and she had stayed up for hours just waiting for him. She supposed that at some point, she simply fell asleep out of exhaustion, since she couldn't remember making the decision herself.

It was strange that he didn't come. So far, he hadn't missed one night in coming to her, even after they had argued. Was it because of the kiss? Did it repulse him to the point where he chose to stay away from her for good? No…that wouldn't make sense after having felt the way that he had possessed her mouth so hungrily, which meant that it definitely wasn't repulsion.

How strange that an argument wouldn't deter him from coming back, but a kiss would. Though she had ideas about what it could mean, she dared not voice or dwell on them, for fear that they were true.

So, rather, she chose to worry instead. She worried that something might have happened to him. _Did he get in a fight? Is he injured? Is he sick?_

She worried, and could only hope that he was alright.

Taking a deep breath to awaken herself further, she climbed out of bed and gathered clothes for her morning bath, and then proceeded down the hallway. Afterwards, she would stay with Neji and worry about him as well, praying that he would wake up soon.

Although, at the same time, she dreaded facing him, knowing that he knew her secret, saw her demon…What would he say to that? What would he _do_?

"Ah!" Hinata exclaimed after having run into what felt like a wall. She was about to fall back, but a hand sped out to grab her arm, steadying her.

"You're a real hazard, you know that?"

Hinata glanced up to see that the wall was actually Sasuke, who was staring down at her with his usual expressionless façade. "I'm sorry…,"

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "You know, if you look up once in a while, you won't run into things."

"I know," She began to smile at him hesitantly.

He glanced down at her arms, which were holding a wad of folded clothes and other items. "Where are you going?"

"To the baths." She smiled. "What about you?"

"To check if sleeping beauty has woken up yet." He glanced away before tilting his head to look back at her. "That, and to relieve whoever had the night shift." When she only smiled at him, he repressed sighing again and instead continued walking. "Well, see ya around." He waved half-heartedly.

"Sasuke, wait," she called out to him, watching as he stopped and turned his body halfway to face her. "Um…Thank you for helping with Neji. I know you didn't have to, but…"

He nodded. "If he's awake, I'll come let you know. If not, I'll see you there."

"Thank you," she smiled, her face beaming with gratitude, while Sasuke started walking away again. She waited until he had turned a corner before embarking on her journey to the baths.

When she was finally soaking in the water, she marveled at how for once, no one else was in the baths; it was just her. She wasn't really up _that _early, which made her wonder if the others were still sleeping. If that was the case, then she didn't mind having some time to herself to relax in the hot water.

Almost completely submerged in the steaming water, Hinata pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her cheek on top of one knee. Her initial thoughts were of Neji and how he was faring…if he was awake and what she would tell him, what they would talk about. She considered how she would explain Itachi. Was there a point to lying about it anymore, since Neji already saw the demon? She supposed not, which left her choosing to tell him the truth about everything.

It was a strange experience to tell someone about her secret demon friend. While nerve-wracking and terrifying, it was also a relieving feeling to talk to someone about it; almost as if a burden was slowly being lifted from her shoulders.

But such a confession of truth also had many side-effects. So far, she had only told Gaara and Sasuke, and they had not only kept their silence about the secret, but also protected it—protected _her_.

Would Neji do the same? She thought he would, but…if he was angry, that might not be the case.

Either way, he had to know the truth, and it would be too late to turn back on that now. She could only hope that he would understand it and why she had kept it from him for so long.

If she had told him sooner, though, would he have gotten hurt that night? The thought made her feel guilty, her mind once again brooding on how her guardian being hurt in the first place was entirely her fault. She could've prevented it; she knew she could have, but she didn't.

This wasn't the first time that she was beginning to feel torn between two worlds, with the ever-present pressure to make a choice between them. She was never supposed to exist between two worlds; she was only supposed to belong to one, but she didn't think she could make that final choice.

Either way, her heart would break because someone would be left behind.

With a deep, drawn-out sigh, Hinata left the bath, dried herself, and changed into her clothes before exiting the bathing rooms completely. Her hair was still damp enough to cling to her back and shoulders, but none of that mattered when she espied a red-haired friend of hers standing outside the bathing rooms.

He had been leaning against a wall, arms folded over his chest, legs crossed at the ankles, and head bowed when she began to approach him.

Sensing her, he looked up, his aquamarine gaze settling on her. "Hinata,"

She smiled pleasantly in greeting. "Good morning, Gaara. Were you waiting for me?"

He nodded once, apathetically. "We need to talk."

She swallowed back a rise of nervous trepidation. "About what?"

He ignored her question, though he did answer in another way. "You haven't told me about what happened to Neji the other night. I know he wasn't sick."

"Oh…," she breathed, feeling suddenly numb about the whole situation. She glanced around down each hallway, checking for possible eavesdroppers.

Seeming to read her mind, Gaara assured her. "No one is around. You can talk here."

She nodded in relief, while trying to think of where to begin. "Um…Itachi came to get me, like every other night, I suppose, but…" she thought back, picturing the events in her mind, replaying them as if she wasn't involved first-hand, but rather watching from the outside. "I don't know why, but Neji pushed into my room and saw Itachi and I, and…"

"Did he know about your demon?" Gaara asked.

Hinata shook her head in confusion before answering. "I don't think so. Maybe he was listening at the door," she shook her head again. "I'm not sure."

"Did Neji try to attack him?"

"Yes,"

Gaara made a sound that almost sounded like a scoff. "What a fool. Did he not see that he was a demon?"

Hinata furrowed her brow, thinking back on it. "He did. I remember hearing Neji call him a demon before he attacked, so he must have thought I was in danger."

Gaara was silent, but contemplative. "What then?"

"They fought…" Hinata remembered seeing how deftly Itachi fought with Neji; it was to the point where it simply looked as though Itachi was playing with the guardian. And then…Itachi pinned Neji to the wall with his sword and the real torture began. "I tried to stop them…" she murmured, talking to herself more than Gaara. "I tried to stop Itachi from hurting Neji, but…nothing was working. Neji was in so much agony—I didn't know what to do."

Gaara narrowed his eyes at her, seeing her inner pain. "What did the demon do?"

"I'm not sure what it was. He just looked into Neji's eyes, and then it was like Neji was being tortured without even being touched…" she stopped to look up at Gaara. "Sasuke said that it's a special ability of Itachi's that targets the mind, and damages it somehow."

Gaara had never heard of such an ability, but it confirmed for him even more how formidable this demon truly was. Neji didn't stand a chance against him, and Gaara doubted that he, himself, would be able to last much longer against him in a fight. It was a daunting prospect.

Hinata continued, knowing nothing about Gaara's inner thoughts. "I healed whatever I could, including his fever, but Sasuke said that the rest of the healing would have to be done by Neji and no one else…which is why he isn't awake yet."

"I see…," Gaara muttered in reply, but something else occurred to him just then. "Considering Neji's not dead, I assumed that you managed to get your demon to stop. How did you do it?"

Hinata blushed heavily just thinking about her and Itachi's shared moment. When she glanced at Gaara, her blush deepened even further.

Feeling confused by the suddenly red-faced Hinata, Gaara furrowed his brows at her, but remained silent, waiting for an answer.

Hinata fiddled with her fingers, keeping her gaze averted out of embarrassment. "Erm, I…I, uh," she gulped before clearing her throat. "I…k-k-kissed him…"

A slight rise of his brows was the only indication of the redhead being surprised by the news. Initially, he was surprised that Hinata would do something like that, but the surprise wore off to reveal something more somber: the realization that their relationship was no longer just friendship. Hinata definitely had deeper feelings for her demon, and that was definitely not comforting in the least.

During her friend's silence, Hinata began to cool off, her blush receding to nothing more than a light dusting of pink on the crescents of her cheeks.

Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, Gaara strained for a new topic of conversation now that his most pressing questions had been answered. "I'm assuming that this rumor about you and the Uchiha are false then."

"Rumor?" Hinata questioned before realizing that he was referring to them being a couple. "Oh no, I mean, yes! It's false. Temari was getting suspicious, so…Sasuke helped me."

Gaara nodded, reminding himself of the "argument" that he and Hinata had gotten into the other night about Sasuke. "You consider him a friend, then."

Hinata tilted her head slightly, her moonstone eyes searching Gaara's face, before she began to smile tenderly. "I think so. I truly don't think that he means me any harm. I think…" she trailed off, then shook her head. "Even though he doesn't show it very well, he does care."

Gaara didn't say anything, since he was still inwardly skeptical about the Uchiha's intentions. But, Hinata trusted him and that should be good enough, except…she also put a lot of trust in a demon…

"Gaara?" Hinata interrupted his thoughts. "Can I ask you a favor?"

"What is it?"

"It's just…Itachi left right after we…" she paused, blushing again. "And he didn't come to see me last night, so…"

"You want to see him." Gaara summed up exactly what she was trying to say.

Hinata nodded pleadingly. "I would like to go when everyone is busy in the village. Do you think you could help me get over the wall?"

Having done it before, Gaara relented with a short nod. "When you're ready, just go to the wall and it'll be there for you, and it'll stay there for when you come back as well."

Hinata smiled brightly. "Thank you so much, Gaara!"

"Just be careful." He warned, and seeing her smile more, he glared. "I'm serious."

"I will, I promise."

"Good."

"Hinata!" a voice called out from the end of the hallway.

Surprised, Hinata turned to see Tenten at the end of the hallway, leaning a hand against the wall, breathing heavily. However, she was smiling happily. "Tenten?"

"Neji's awake!" she called out, the excitement in her voice practically radiating through the hall.

Hinata could feel her eyes widen in shock before it gave way to her own excitement. Then, as if losing control of her body and acting on instinct alone, Hinata ran down the hall towards Tenten, both of them hurrying towards Neji's room. The two girls didn't even look back to see if Gaara was following.

* * *

Tenten and Hinata's pace slowed as they reached the door, at which they pushed open and walked through only to see a large group of visitors around Neji's bed. They all looked over when the two entered, offered greetings, and then turned back to facing the bed or each other to talk.

Hinata couldn't really notice any of them; she was too focused on seeing around them to where Neji was, but she couldn't see him yet. She moved closer and ended up wedging her way between Lee and Kankuro. As soon as she did, her eyes fell upon Neji, who was laying back against the pillows and involved in a conversation with the matriarch.

Spying the new visitor, Tsunade smiled and motioned to her with her head while talking to Neji. "Got another visitor, Neji. You're becoming quite popular all of a sudden."

Following the motion, Neji turned his head and landed his gaze on Hinata.

Hinata didn't realize she had been holding her breath until he had stared at her, and then she proceeded to exhale in relief. Her mouth slackened into a shaky smile, and her eyes moistened. Despite how happy she was, she still managed to notice how sunken his eyes were and how sullenly the corners of his mouth tilted downwards. The dark circles under his eyes stood out more once they were open and awake in comparison to when he was unconscious.

Neji looked as though he had just gotten back from a year-long battle, and in his mind, that might have been accurate.

"Neji," she whispered, her happiness and relief flaring around the two syllables of his name.

Staring blankly at her for another moment, Neji eventually turned back towards Tsunade as if he hadn't seen Hinata at all. This, of course, wiped Hinata's smile clean from her face, and instead, made her feel frozen inside.

Tsunade patted Neji's shoulder lightly, offering him a smile. "We should head down to breakfast, but don't worry. We'll send a meal up for you, too." She glanced at Hinata's forlorn expression before turning back to Neji. "I'll drop by again after dinner to check on you, but to be honest, there's nothing more I can do. Hinata's taken very good care of you."

"I'm sure she has." He said, his voice devoid of any emotion.

Tsunade smiled uneasily at the way he was treating his deity, but knew it would only be her business if it involved anything other than their personal relationship. "We'll leave you alone now." She turned to address the crowd of visitors. "Hey, all of you, out! Get your asses out that door and down to breakfast now!"

In an eruption of conversation and exclamations, the large group eventually filed outside the door with Tsunade being last. Hinata was the only one that stayed behind, and Tsunade closed the door behind her to give them whatever privacy they needed.

In the silent aftermath of everyone leaving, except for Hinata and Neji, not a sound was made.

Neji wasn't looking at her at all, wasn't even speaking to her. Instead, he was facing the opposite way, keeping his gaze focused on his balcony. Hinata, for her part, could only stand still, her head lowered sulkily.

Eventually, she mustered up the courage to stare at him again, or rather, the back of his head. "I'm so happy to see you awake, Neji. I…I was worried."

Though she couldn't see, Neji's face was slowly beginning to form into a scowl.

Hinata gulped, moving closer to his bedside, keeping her hands folded in front of her. "After you got hurt, I tried to do as much as I could, but I didn't know what to do exactly….Um…." she paused, reaching out to touch his hand. "How are you feeling?"

Neji turned at that exact moment, landing his infuriated eyes on her. "How the hell do you _think_ I'm feeling, Hinata?"

Her eyes widened to an almost impossible degree, just as she retrieved her hand back to her chest as if she had been scolded. She had seen Neji angry before, but never this much, and never at her—not like this.

"Do you have the slightest fucking clue as to how I'm feeling? As to how I _felt_?" He was yelling like she had never heard him yell before, and it scared her.

"N-Neji, I understand if you—"

"No, you don't!" he interrupted, still yelling with ferocity. "You understand _nothing _of what I went through! Hours…days…weeks of nonstop torture!" his tone lessened into something more pained, while his hand flew to his forehead, inwardly feeling insane for remembering what he had experienced in that torture chamber of his mind. "The endless agony…wanting to die…"

Tears flooded Hinata's eyes at seeing her guardian, who was normally so composed, look so completely shattered. He was right; there was no way she could understand what he had gone through.

"And then, when I finally come out of it," Neji laughed darkly. "You're kissing that demon! As if _rewarding _him for trying to kill me!"

Hinata was shaking her head. "Neji, it wasn't like that…" her words were trembling.

"Are you sure?" his tone became as cold as ice. "It looked to me like you were enjoying it."

"I did it to save you," she pleaded desperately. "He wouldn't have stopped if I didn't."

"Bullshit." He muttered, shaking his head, his lips tightening into a thin line.

"Neji, I—" She stopped herself, unsure of what to say. "What do I have to do to convince you?"

Neji looked at her again, settling his gaze on the way she stood so uncertain of herself, her eyes pleading with him, while sadness lurked behind it. "Tell me everything."

"What?" she asked, not sure that she heard him correctly.

"Everything, Hinata. Don't you dare leave anything out…and no lying, either."

She gulped nervously. "Where do you want me to start?"

"From the beginning, when you met…_how _you met. I want to know how it got this far," Or, rather, how it got to the point where she was obviously in love with a demon.

Hinata nodded apprehensively. "Okay…"

* * *

By the time training had finished and lunch was beginning for the other temple residents, Hinata finished telling Neji about her entire past with Itachi, beginning with that first encounter in the meadow to that recent night when Neji was almost killed.

The entire time, Neji sat in bed motionless, staring down at his hands, listening and feeling pained by a secret that had been kept from him for so long. He was not only her guardian, but he thought—_believed_—that he was one of her best friends. He _believed _that he had meant so much to her, and yet, she hadn't told him a secret that she seemingly had no issue telling Gaara and Sasuke…Gaara and _Sasuke_! She told someone who had tried to hurt her before telling him.

That hurt more than he dared to admit. Then again, the secret was still being kept from everyone else, including another one of Hinata's best friends, Temari. That eased his pain slightly, but not enough for him to not be angry with his deity…

His deity…?

No, she wasn't his deity, anymore, was she? She belonged to someone else this whole time…a demon, no less! She had chosen a demon over him, over their own species! Was there a chance that he could still love her after learning that? After being betrayed in such a manner and for so long?

He closed his eyes morosely as he realized that, yes, he did still love her…very much. She still meant so much to him. He was beginning to believe that he would forgive her of anything, no matter how deep the betrayal, or how vast the lies. She was still Hinata, after all. She was still the little girl that he befriended as a child. She was still the deity that he had sworn to guard with his life…and she was still the beautiful, kind, and compassionate young woman with whom he had fallen in love.

But the pain was still there, and after having gone through the previous mental torture, he could say with confidence that it didn't compare to the pain of being betrayed by someone he loved with all his heart and soul and mind. No pain could compare to that.

"Neji," Hinata murmured after a while, reaching out her hand to grasp one of his own hands. Thankfully, he didn't reject it, and instead, grasped hers loosely.

When he finally looked at her, he was no longer angry, just…pained and sad. "Why did you keep this from me? Why didn't you tell me sooner? I could've helped you…I—" he gulped. "You didn't trust me with it, did you?"

She shook her head. "That's not it, I just…I thought you'd be angry, and I couldn't tell anyone." She paused, seeing that he was about to mention Gaara or Sasuke, so she quickly continued. "The only reason Gaara and Sasuke know is because they found out on their own, and since they did, I decided that I might as well just explain everything to them."

"How long have they known?" he asked in almost a whisper.

"Sasuke's only learned of it recently. Gaara…has known for about ten years now, maybe a little longer."

Neji released a sound of disbelief. "That explains why you've spent so much time with them, and why you're not really involved with Sasuke."

Hinata nodded. "That's right." She didn't speak for a moment until another thought occurred to her. "They've helped me so much, Neji. If it wasn't for them, I would've been labeled a traitor a long time ago."

"This demon…" Neji began, his brows furrowing unpleasantly. "He really means that much to you? So much so that you would even _risk_ being a traitor?"

Without hesitation, Hinata nodded. "I love him."

Neji breathed in sharply at hearing the words, while his chest seemed to tighten and clench painfully. "Why him?" _Why not me?_

Unknowing of Neji's inner consternation, Hinata smiled dreamily as she thought of her demon. "I guess…I love him, because…he's Itachi. That's all that matters to me."

Listening to her talk about another man like that wasn't making him feel any better. While jealous, he was also distraught at feeling like he had lost a battle that he had been pointlessly fighting for years, for a prize that was never meant to be his. He felt as though he never stood a chance, and yet he had tried in ignorance, anyway.

For what, though? What had he gained? Betrayal and lies?

"Are you okay, Neji?" Hinata asked after having noticed how much paler he had become.

He glanced at her concerned face quickly before turning back to his hands that lay limp in his lap. "I'd like to be alone for a while, Hinata."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded and cleared his throat. "I'll send for you if I need anything."

"Okay…," she began to walk towards the door, but she paused before exiting completely. "I'll make sure that they're going to send up some lunch for you."

"That's fine." He answered tersely.

Hinata lowered her gaze and quietly left the room, knowing that if there was ever going to be a good time to escape to the meadow, this would be it.

Despite feeling a pull to comfort Neji further, though he obviously didn't want any comfort from her, she proceeded to where Gaara's transporting sand was waiting for her.

The day was apparently not getting any easier for anyone.

* * *

Hinata waited until almost everyone had left for the village or the pavilion, and only then did she walk out to the courtyard, spying over her shoulder to make sure that she wasn't being followed or watched. When the coast was clear, she approached a part of the wall, where she saw a circle-sized platform of sand resting unobtrusively on the ground. Sending out a silent word of thanks to Gaara, she stepped uneasily onto the sand and crouched down.

Almost immediately, it began to lift into the air of its own accord. It would've been perfectly safe for Hinata to stand, but crouching was better in the sense that it didn't make her heart pound nervously from fear.

The mound of sand soared over the top of the wall, and then slowly descended to the ground on the other side. As soon as she landed, Hinata stepped away and noticed that the sand wasn't slithering away like usual. Instead, it was remaining there, just as Gaara said it would in case she would need a way to get back over.

Smiling in gratitude, Hinata turned on her heel and began walking the familiar path into the forest that would eventually lead to the meadow.

Upon arriving, she wasn't surprised that she didn't see Itachi, since he wasn't exactly used to seeing her in the daytime anymore. Stepping into the middle of the glorious meadow, Hinata hesitated and debated whether or not to wait there or try to find Itachi's "home". She had only been there once before and wasn't certain if she could find it again. Then again, she couldn't find it last time, either. Itachi eventually found her and led her there, so perhaps if she tried looking for it again, he would come find her…again.

Chewing her lip, she decided that she might as well try to find it, and pray that he would be nearby in case she got lost, or worse. Meanwhile, she considered what she would say to him. Foremost, she wanted to understand why he hadn't come to her the previous night, and also understand what he thought of her after their intimate moment.

She needed to know for certain that he still cared for her, and that the kiss didn't end up pushing him away. Hinata didn't think she could stand to lose him after having just reclaimed in her life again after so long.

After that, she wanted to ask him where they would go from here, how their relationship might or might not change. In either case, even she had no idea what to make of their relationship anymore. Did she want only friendship with him or something more?

Her heart seemed to thump out its answer that, yes, she did want something so much more from him than friendship. And yet, it made her cheeks redden at the thought of breaching a part of their relationship that she never breached with anyone before.

Could it be done? Or, was it simply too impossible for a demon and a human—a deity, to be exact?

Brows furrowed in thought and worry, Hinata continued her trek through the forest, while trying to remember the route she had taken the previous time. The forest was so quiet, too. It was almost…abnormally quiet. At that awareness, she paused and leaned her hand against the trunk of a nearby tree. Her eyes shifted to the different dim areas of the forest, not seeing anything threatening, and yet, was that really the truth? It was the things she couldn't see that proved to be the most threatening, right?

Her breathing became shallow as she simply waited, being completely still and barely making a sound.

Then, she heard noises from the side of her, and they only sounded a few yards away. "Itachi?" she gulped fearfully.

She watched that spot and waited until she saw a shadowed figure come running through the trees, but she couldn't determine what it was. It couldn't have been Itachi, could it?

A growl emitted from it as it began to sprint towards her, making her eyes widen and her breath inhale sharply. No, definitely not Itachi.

_A bear? _Hinata confirmed in her mind, seeing the large animal hurtle towards her at an alarming speed. Knowing that there was no possible way to outrun the large, brown beast, Hinata could only stare transfixed as it came her way, obviously intending to make her its next meal.

Her fingers curled against the tree trunk, her nails biting into the bark.

The humongous animal barreled toward her, and it occurred to her that it didn't look as though it wanted _her_. Rather, it looked as though it had been running for a while, as if it was being chased…or hunted.

Then, just as the bear had almost neared her, something else knocked into it from its side, nearly tackling it to the ground. The bear landed on its side, groaning, but she couldn't spot the other figure at all. Did it disappear? Did she even see it?

A blur raced around it, severing the bear's head from its body, effectively killing it. Hinata could only watch dumbfounded as blood stained the bear's fur and it's eyes froze and mouth slackened.

"What are you doing here?" a voice practically growled at her.

Hinata looked away from the dead animal, only to see Itachi standing near it, blood staining his hands, and if she were to look closer, she would see more blood spotted all over his clothes.

The way his voice sounded so guttural reminded her of the previous growl she heard that she thought had come from the bear. But, had it come from him instead? It was possible with the way he was glaring at her angrily, his red eyes boring into her heatedly.

"I…" she tried to force words out of her throat, and it was difficult at first after seeing the way Itachi so mercilessly killed that huge animal. "I came to look for you."

"This was probably one of the worst times to do that." He spoke, his voice having a distinct displeased edge to it.

Hinata was about to ask why, but one more look at the bear gave her the answer. "You were hunting?"

He gave her a deadpan stare, as if to sarcastically say, _What do you think?_

"I'm sorry," she muttered. "I didn't know."

He shook his head and turned away from her to grab one of the bear's forepaws and one backpaw, with which he used as leverage to lift the dead carcass onto his back. Without saying another word, he began to walk away in another direction. Without looking back at her, he told her to follow, and she did, though at a more sedate pace.

A sigh escaped her lips as she was beginning to comprehend that she was probably going to get yelled at by yet another person that day. However, she stayed silent as Itachi seemed to lead her back to his cave.

Itachi was practically seething, and at first, his anger was directed to her, but he knew that it wasn't her fault. There was really no one to blame for her almost getting in trouble yet again, and yet…

_Damn it._ He cursed in his mind, while trying to calm himself, which was quite difficult after what he had just experienced. Fear had never gripped his heart before the way it did when he first noticed that Hinata was in the direct path of the panicked bear. When hunting, the chase usually swarmed his mind to the point where he barely noticed anything else, which was why he enjoyed hunting. After all, it was the only time that he could think about something else besides his deity.

However, it was just his luck that Hinata decided to traipse along when he just happened to be in the middle of a hunt.

He arrived back at his cave early that morning and received only a couple hours of sleep before hunger awoke him and begged for his attention. He spent the past half-hour hunting for a meal and had come across a bear, and chose to chase it for a while before killing it. Hunting was like therapy for a demon, and it was in their blood to enjoy the chase just as much as killing it.

During the hunt, he had sensed Hinata's nearness, but it was in the back of his mind. Then, he paid more attention when he sensed that the bear had changed paths to avoid him, but only ended up putting Hinata in the line of fire.

_That _was when Itachi started to panic. He had increased his speed, and diverted his path so that he was no longer chasing the bear from behind, but rather so that he would side-swipe it before it got to Hinata.

Though it worked and Hinata was safe, the knowledge alone of what could have happened to her set his teeth on edge and his hands trembling with suppressed rage. If he had been just a moment too late…

He shook his head, clearing away such thoughts, and breathed heavily to calm himself. When his heart was no longer pounding with urgency, he felt more in control, and by then, he had reached his temporary residence.

The mouth of the cave was open, but hidden well amongst the dense foliage of the forest. Itachi approached it and set the bear corpse off to the side to be skinned, washed, and eaten later on. His hunger still ate at his insides, making him feel more demonically animalistic than usual, but he chose to stave off until after Hinata departed. He doubted that she would want to stay and watch him eat, since no demon really took the time to cook their food; instead, preferring it raw and bloody.

A basin of water was just inside the cave for his use in cleansing his hands of the blood. He, first, removed his outer, bloodied clothing so that he was only wearing shoes and pants, and then proceeded to crouch over the basin to wash his hands.

Amidst his washing, he happened to glance over at Hinata, who had stayed very quiet the whole time. It made his muscles tense at seeing her just standing a little outside the cave, her wide eyes captivated by his bare back and chest. He could practically hear her heart pounding furiously at the sight, and the action itself made his blood start to simmer with a familiar sexual urge to take and possess.

When Hinata finally noticed that he was staring at her, she gasped and looked away, her cheeks flaming up in embarrassment at being caught for staring so intently at him in such a way.

The way her blood rushed so swiftly to her face made his own blood practically boil with the aforementioned pulsating urge. It took all he had to look away from her and focus on removing the stains of animal blood from his skin.

Ever since that damnable kiss, he had wanted more of her, wanted to taste more and feel more. Ever since then, his body had become so tense and on edge that he could barely concentrate on anything other than how her body would feel against his, her curves against his rigidity. It was slowly becoming too much to bear, and his self-control had almost splintered to nothing. _Shit._

Flicking the water from his hands, he stood up and dried them off on a piece of cloth nearby. "Why are you here?" he asked without daring to look at her.

Hinata's blush began to recede at the same time she stepped into the cave and leaned against the wall on the opposite side of him. "I came to see you," she folded her hands in front of her and watched him. That is, until he met her gaze, and then she looked away, still feeling embarrassed for having…_gawked_ at him earlier.

Itachi walked towards her like a predator and only stopped when he was just a few inches away. He hooked his finger under her chin to direct her gaze back to his. "Why?" he asked huskily.

Her opal eyes met his gentle gaze, and she relaxed, though her blush still remained daintily on her cheeks. "You didn't come last night…I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"As you can see, nothing's wrong." He answered curtly, wanting to get her away from him as soon as possible before he did something she might not be ready for. Despite that, he remained close to her body, his finger still hooked under her delicate chin, almost stroking her silky skin. His body was obviously not listening to him anymore. He cleared his throat, though his voice still sounded desire-ridden to his ears. "Was that all?"

"No," she whispered, her eyelids falling halfway in a daze just because of his touch and nearness. "I wanted to…" she trailed off, trying to remember the questions she had to ask, but him being so close was clouding her thoughts. "To know…why you didn't come." She gulped noticeably. "Was it because," her blush heightened. "Because of the kiss?"

"I had something to take care of," Itachi replied lowly, his eyes becoming riveted on her mouth, watching her teeth nibble on her lower lip anxiously. The action was quickly followed by her tongue sneaking out to smooth over the delicate skin. His breathing was becoming labored just watching the tantalizingly innocent gesture.

"It wasn't because of me, then?" she questioned hopefully, praying that he hadn't been pushed away by her bold move the other night. Although, by the way he was looking at her so hungrily, she was highly doubting that at the moment.

"Not in the way you're thinking," he assured her quietly, while his hand that was once under her chin began to caress along her cheek until the side of her face was resting against his palm.

She had so much more to ask him, but the heat of their moment was becoming too much for her. It was almost as if that kiss had broken open a floodgate of inner desires that they both had for so long, and yet had repressed. She wanted him to kiss her again, and she wasn't ashamed to admit that. In fact, she moved closer to him, tilting her head upward. Her hand seemed to move of its own accord, resting against his chest, feeling the tightened muscle just under her hand. "Itachi…" she whispered, sounding almost like a plea.

Seeing her parted lips and feeling her palm on his bare skin was all the encouragement he needed. In one fell swoop, he wrapped his hand behind her neck and pulled her towards his body before hungrily claiming her mouth with his own. One of her hands moved upwards to entangle in the hair at his neck, while her other hand wrapped around to grip onto his muscled back.

Her nails glided against the skin on his back soothingly, making him groan and press against her even more, if it was possible. The hand that wasn't behind her neck and clenching onto her hair had instead found a place at her hip. It was only there for a moment before moving down her leg to clench onto the fabric of her gown, his instincts begging to lift it and take her.

A pleasured whimper caught in her throat, but it was still audible to his ears, making him intensify the already intense embrace. He devoured her mouth desperately, tasting everything, and when she shyly tried to mimic him, he groaned again and pressed her against the wall, lifting her gown just a little bit higher. The tips of his fingers grazed the tender skin of her upper leg, and he still wanted so much more.

Suddenly, he broke the kiss before he lost all control, but held her against him while they both tried to regain their breathing. Hinata held onto him tightly, burying her face into his chest and closing her eyes so that she could focus on calming her racing heart.

Itachi, too, had his eyes closed, but opened them to stare at his hand that was still clenched purposely on her gown. As if silently commanding it with his eyes, he watched as each finger loosened its grip, letting her gown fall back into its usual length. While still catching his breath, both of his forearms came to rest on the wall of the cave on either side of her head. Goddess, he wanted her so badly it was almost tearing him apart.

Gulping harshly to settle his nerves, he began to speak quietly. "I told you that I'm going to leave again,"

Hinata opened her eyes, but she still stayed clasped against his body as if he was the only thing holding her up.

He continued, staring dazedly at the wall. "I'm leaving in three days, and I want you to come with me."

"For how long?" she murmured.

"For good." He answered quickly.

She didn't say anything for a moment as she let the implications of his request register in her mind. "Will I ever see Konoha again?" she asked, but the real question was whether or not she'd ever see her temple family again.

"No," he answered sternly.

At that, she finally looked up at him, waiting until he met her gaze evenly. "What if I can't do it? What if I can't leave Konoha behind?"

And as per his agreement with Madara… "I will still have to leave…and I wouldn't ever be able to come back." _To see you… _He added in his mind. _So, say yes._

She exhaled shakily, averting her gaze to his shoulder instead of his penetrating eyes. "To never see them again for the rest of my life…"

Hearing her trail off, he closed his eyes, feeling pained at the knowledge that she wasn't ready to give him an answer yet. She was still so attached to her home and family that the decision to leave with him forever wasn't an easy one. She would need time. "You have three days to decide. Consider tomorrow as day one."

She met his gaze worriedly, feeling the heavy weight of a burden— an inevitable decision—resting on her shoulders. "Itachi,"

"I will not come see you until the night of the third day when you are to give me your final answer." When Itachi saw that she was beginning to look away, he tilted up her chin with his knuckle again. "You knew this day would come when you would have to choose between them and…my world." He was about to say "me", but couldn't bring himself to sound so desperate.

Everything about her expression and tone of voice sounded despairingly sad. "I don't know if I can."

He opened his mouth to reply, but chose against it, and instead gave her a surprisingly tender and gentle kiss that only lasted a short moment. "You have to," he murmured against her lips. "We're out of time…and there are no other options."

She stared into his blood-red eyes, seeing the truth in his words, the same truth that she had been avoiding for many years. She knew that she couldn't avoid it anymore. He was right. "Okay…I promise that I will have an answer for you by then."

He gave a short nod before finally pulling away from her. "I'm assuming you have a way to get back over the wall."

"I do," she nodded.

A corner of his mouth tilted upward in amusement. "Then, I might as well show you the easiest way to get to this cave, so that _this_," he motioned to the dead bear. "never happens again."

Hinata couldn't resist smiling gently in response, and it only increased when he held out his hand for her to take. With her small hand enfolded in his, she let him lead her out of the cave and down an easily noticeable path back to the meadow.

They remained silent during the walk, and while Hinata made sure to memorize as much as she could about her surroundings and the route to take to the cave, she also pondered how this moment felt to her.

She understood that what she felt while holding his hand and being led back to the meadow was something a lot like foreboding…or maybe a sense of farewell. It felt as though this could possibly be the last time she would be able to be with her demon like this. If she were to choose Konoha over him, then she would never be able to feel him the way she felt him now. If this was the last moment she had with him, then…

The thought made her hand tighten onto his more firmly.

When they reached the Konoha wall and Hinata saw the familiar mound of sand, the walk there had only felt like a matter of seconds. Itachi released her hand silently and watched with a twinge of curiosity at how the sand was acting as some type of transport.

He could only assume that it was the work of one of her half-demon friends. Before she fully stepped onto the sand, she looked up at him expectantly.

He returned her gaze, and for a moment, he simply took to memorizing features of her face that he already knew too well. "Three days, Hinata."

She bit her lip and nodded morosely before crouching on the sand and letting it lift her over the wall.

It wasn't until he could no longer see her that Itachi finally looked elsewhere and began his walk back to his cave. Suddenly, his hunger pains had become no more than a dull ache in the back of his mind…along with many other feelings and needs.

* * *

"_The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost."_

_-G.K. Chesterton_

* * *

**Thanks to all my lovely and well-appreciated reviewers!**

**MurderedByAMarionette: I absolutely loved your review! Thank you for taking the time to write such a long one! P.S. I'll let you know if I end up writing a Madara story**

**Ayo****: Lemon? Definitely. It's one of the reasons why I rated this story "M". That, and bad language, I suppose…**

**LEMON NOTE: There will be a lemon, but I am still uncertain on how I'm going to do it, as in…put it in and mark the area so people can skip over it if they want, or don't mark it at all…or I'm sure there are other ways, too, but I don't know. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know in a review, please!**

**HyuugaAE****: I'm trying very hard to get these chapters out as quick as possible and whenever I have the time. Trust me, I don't want to spend years on getting this done, either.**

**Aki666****: Thanks for the confidence boost! Loved it!**

**Everyone else, thank you so, so, so, so very much for taking the time to not only read this, but review as well. I can't express how much I truly appreciate every single review.**

**See you all next chapter!**

**-Tranquilwriter**


	30. Inevitable

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. DON'T START READING YET! Read BELOW first!**

**WARNING: RATED M!**

**ALSO! Since it's been a while since I last updated, it would probably be wise to go back and read a few chapters so that you can get back into the mood of the story. Otherwise, some of this chapter might seem rushed, since I'm starting where I left off. Thank you!**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XXIX**

**Inevitable**

* * *

"_There are two primary choices in life; to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them."_

_-Denis Waitley_

"_True goodbyes are the ones never said or explained."_

_-Unknown_

"_A good-bye is never painful unless you're never going to say hello again."_

_-Unknown_

* * *

**Day 1**

When Hinata woke up that morning after having a fitful sleep, something in the air seemed different. It was strange, but it almost felt like an ending was near. Really, though, an ending _was _near. Either her relationship with Itachi would come to an end, or her familial relations with the temple residents would. She had three days to decide which relationship would begin, and which one would end for good.

The decision would not be an easy one to make, and she had to start weighing the pros and cons. However, she knew that it would really come down to whom she absolutely could _not _live without. Itachi? Or, her friends?

As she roamed about her room to prepare for her bath, she thought about the situation in further depth. Although, it wasn't until she was soaking in the water alone, for the second time so far, that she truly considered the possible outcomes for both situations.

If she were to go with Itachi, she would never see her friends again, never see Konoha again. That, and she would most likely be labeled a traitor, and be hunted down the same way that demons were. She knew Itachi would protect her, but it would only put him at risk, though she had come to see him as invincible.

By leaving with him, she would make an enemy of her home village, which meant that her friends would look upon her as an enemy, as well. She would lose everything and everyone except Itachi. Would that be enough? Would it be worth it?

Besides that, it had also dawned on her as to where they would live. Would they travel constantly or find a safe place for her to reside? Also, how would other demons receive her? Would she truly be welcomed into Itachi's world, or would he become a traitor, too?

Whatever the case, he seemed as though he had already decided that it was worth the risk. She had no doubt that Itachi had settled everything on his end; he was always so many steps ahead of her.

Now, if she chose to stay in Konoha, it would mean never seeing Itachi again for the remainder of her life. The mere thought made her cringe and it felt as though her heart just plummeted to her stomach.

However, by staying, she wouldn't have to say goodbye to her temple family. She would be able to live with them for the rest of her life, and be protected by them. So, overall, safety was not an issue in her decision. Hinata knew she would be safe wherever she ended up.

Itachi was the only one she had fallen in love with, so if she were to reject his offer, what then? Would she remain single her whole life, or marry someone she wasn't in love with? If she were to marry anyone in Konoha, she supposed it would be Neji. It would please him, sure, but he wouldn't be Itachi. She wasn't certain if she could give her body and soul to anyone other than Itachi.

But…She supposed that she would learn to adapt without him. She would learn to survive without Itachi, and make a true life for herself inside the Konoha walls.

Was it possible?

Hinata had no idea, and could only continue to ponder about it, while the hot water lapped against her body.

* * *

"You better have a good reason for this, Hyuga." Sasuke said tersely as he lounged against a wall in Neji's bedroom.

"Why did you send for us?" Gaara asked sternly, marking his position near one of the four posts of Neji's bed.

Neji, himself, was sitting on the edge of his bed, elbows resting on his knees, and for the first time in the past couple days, he was back to wearing his usual clothes. He still wasn't energized enough to join the training or the pavilion work, which was fine since Hinata wasn't going to do any of that either. Instead, she was supposed to be around him, but per his orders, she stayed away since he hadn't asked for her yet.

And there was a reason behind that decision. He needed to speak with Gaara and Sasuke first.

Remembering the redhead's question, Neji began to answer. "Hinata told me everything. I know all about her demon, and your involvement in it. While I appreciate that you both have protected her, I have questions to ask that I can trust you two will answer."

Sasuke glared. "So, spit it out, already."

Neji gave him a quick glare. "You're his brother, right?"

Sasuke's dark eyes glinted coldly. "If you're just going to insult me, then I might as well leave."

"Are you?" Neji persisted.

Sasuke paused, hesitating. "Half-brother."

The Hyuga snorted in disbelief. "He did look like you…"

The young Uchiha scowled. "Now, you're really insulting me."

Neji sighed deeply, running a hand through his hair tiredly. "Hinata said you found out about all this on your own. Is that true?"

"Yeah, why?" Sasuke replied quickly, wanting to get this over with.

"How?" Neji questioned back.

"It's that pendant she wears that gave it away."

"How so? Just because you recognized it?"

"That," Sasuke conceded. "And how it practically cloaks her with _his_ scent and power."

Neji furrowed his brows in confusion. "What do you mean? I've never noticed that."

Sasuke smirked mockingly. "You wouldn't; you're human."

Seeing the guardian's eyes narrow in further confusion, Gaara interceded. "Only those with demon blood can sense it, since it's a tool used against other demons. When Hinata wears it, it sends out a constant warning for anything with demon blood to stay away."

"And if they don't?" Neji asked, trying to recall if he had ever seen Gaara or Sasuke very close to Hinata. Now that he thought about it, they never seemed to touch her for prolonged periods of time or get too close for too long.

Sasuke glanced at Neji emotionlessly. "It's like you're burning alive if you get too close. I've only seen one demon get the full brunt of that." He stopped and seeing Neji's questioning stare, he continued. "It was one of the demons that attacked Hinata on our last mission."

"I don't believe it…" Neji muttered dubiously.

Sasuke scoffed. "It's not like anyone cares if you don't."

Ignoring the comment, Neji turned to Gaara instead. "What about you? How did you find out?"

The redhead didn't bother hesitating before replying succinctly. "I saw her being carried back to her room one night in the arms of that demon. We were only eight at the time."

So far, everything was matching up to Hinata's explanation. Apparently, she wasn't lying to him this time; though, he wondered if she even had a reason to anymore. "So, you kept her secret?"

"I didn't see a reason not to." Gaara's words became defensive. "Not to mention…she was so alone with her secret. I wanted to help."

Neji turned to Sasuke expectantly. "Was that the same for you?"

Sasuke sneered. "My reasons are none of your business."

"They are if they concern Hinata!" Neji snapped.

Sasuke snapped right back. "She doesn't belong to you, Hyuga. She never did. If anything, Itachi is the one who's claimed her, and it'll probably make you feel better to know that neither you nor Hinata knew about that until recently."

"And you did?" Neji's anger flared even more.

"To an outsider, it's not that hard to figure out. Although, it seems to have taken _you_ a while."

"Enough," Gaara put a halt to their argument and alerted the attention to himself instead. "What is the real reason you sent for us?"

Since the question was directed to Neji, he paused as if trying to figure that out for himself. "I don't know," he muttered, burying his head in his hands. "I don't know what to make of any of this…and I can hardly comprehend it."

Silence filled the room as the two half-demons seemed to wait for Neji to speak about what was really bothering him.

After a deep breath, Neji did speak. "I don't understand why she kept this from me all this time."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and turned away from the conversation, choosing to stand near the balcony, so it was Gaara who answered. "The reason she kept it from you is the same reason she kept it from everyone else who matters to her." He waited until Neji was giving him his full attention before continuing. "She was terrified that she would lose you if she said anything."

Neji froze.

Still facing away from the two men, Sasuke ran an agitated hand through his hair, though his face looked more resigned. "You have no idea what she's been going through, keeping this secret all these years. I don't even know what she's been going through. I think...to her, she had no other choice but to keep it, and it's been nothing but a cursed burden for her, though she'll never think of it that way."

Neji swallowed as he remembered back to all those times he had seen Hinata with a faraway look on her face…and all those times she had seemed sad or filled with unnamed longing. It made sense now.

Sasuke turned around, leaning back against the balcony railing, giving Neji a stare of contempt. "Be angry at her all you want, but she was doing you a favor by keeping you out of it. It's your own damn fault for getting involved."

Neji averted his gaze, pressing his lips together tightly. "So what happens now, then?"

Gaara answered easily. "I believe that's up to Hinata and her demon."

"Her demon." Neji repeated, not liking the taste of it on his tongue. "Well, I'm not going to—" he halted his speech at hearing a timid knock at his bedroom door. "Come in,"

"Speak of the devil," Sasuke muttered with a smirk, seeing Hinata peek around the doorway, looking shocked at the three men occupying the room.

Recovering from the momentary shock, Hinata moved further into the room after closing the door behind her, and smiled in greeting at her two half-demon friends. "Hello, Gaara, Sasuke."

Still looking exhausted, Neji turned partway towards her. "What did you need, Hinata?"

"Oh, um," she continued smiling, though it was obviously uncomfortable. "I wanted to see how you were feeling today."

"I'm fine," he answered, trying to gentle his tone, but he had the hardest time just looking at her.

"I see. That's good." She looked downward in silent guilt.

Perceptively, Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her. "What happened?"

Gaara noticed it too, but he knew the reason. "Did it not go well?" he asked, referring to her meeting with Itachi the previous day.

Seeing how the two half-demons paid so close attention to her, Neji felt shocked, jealous…and useless. Rather than say anything yet, he simply watched and noticed that Hinata glanced at him quickly before settling her gaze on Gaara instead.

"It was fine, but…" she began to answer, but Sasuke interrupted.

"What was fine? What did you do?" The black-eyed man asked.

Hinata bit her lip bashfully. "I went to see Itachi, and we made a decision…kind of." Her brows furrowed as she tried to think of the right way to put it. "Well, it wasn't really a decision, so much as he told me to make a choice…"

"An ultimatum," Gaara assisted her.

"Yes, an ultimatum…of sorts." She smiled at him thankfully.

"About what?" Neji grated out with inner anxiety.

"Um," Hinata couldn't manage to look at any of them, though they were all staring at her intensely. "Itachi's given me three days to decide to either stay here without ever seeing him again, or leave with him and never come back."

A heavy silence fell on the room, as if a great amount of time and quiet was needed for the three young men to process what Hinata had just said.

Gaara was the first to actually muster up a remark. "What have you decided?"

Hinata met his gaze, her eyes appearing emotionally torn and tired. "Nothing yet,"

"Wait," Neji cut in, his voice sharp and full of contempt. "You're actually _thinking _about leaving? You're actually _considering _it?" He had gotten up from the bed to stalk toward her in his astonished anger. "Has it not occurred to you that _this _is your home? That by leaving here, you would brand yourself a traitor—_our enemy_?"

"I know that!" Hinata replied with just as much feeling, and while she understood his anger and didn't blame him for it, it was still somewhat irritating that he was so furious with her. Sasuke didn't react like that, and neither did Gaara. Then again, she hadn't been good friends with them until _after _she told them. It was the opposite for Neji; the revelation hit him harder _because _he was a best friend to her before the secret came out. She had betrayed his trust, and she knew that, but still…

"So it doesn't bother you, then?" he countered.

"Of course it does!" Hinata's arguing voice was not nearly as loud as Neji's, but the force behind it was just as relentless. "I don't want to be apart from you—" she saw his face soften. "Any of you."

Neji's face returned to a more placid, but cold expression. "So, then why think about leaving at all?"

She knew her honest answer would pain him, but he deserved the absolute truth from her from now on. "I don't think…I could live without him for the rest of my life."

Neji released a short, derisive laugh while facing away from her and cursing beneath his breath. "So, that demon is more important to you than everyone here?"

How could he say that? Hinata looked at Gaara and Sasuke, but they seemed occupied with staying out of the argument, though they were obviously still listening. Finally, she looked back at Neji and shook her head forlornly. "It's not that simple."

"Maybe not to you," He conceded. "But to the rest of us, you're making a choice about who you want to spend the rest of your life with—him or us." He paused. "So, it comes down to the question, is he more important to you than everyone here?"

Hinata was shaking her head helplessly. "I can't answer that."

Neji approached her, his stare becoming commanding. "Then I'm going to be the guardian to you that I should've been a long time ago, and tell you that you're not going anywhere."

Hinata stared at him cautiously. "What do you mean?"

He inched closer to cradle her jaw in his hand. "If I have to imprison you somewhere in this damn temple, then I will do it."

"N-Neji—"

He moved closer until their noses were barely touching, and despite the nearness, Hinata was scared and Neji was filled with vicious resolve. "I will take this whole secret of yours to my grave, but I will _not_ let him have you." He whispered ferociously, his fingers tightening on her face.

A pale hand suddenly shot out to clench onto Neji's wrist. Looking at the intruder, Neji saw red hair and deceptively calm, green eyes.

"You're hurting her." Gaara spoke, his gritty voice hiding an undertone of steel.

"Better back off, Hyuga, and get yourself under control." Sasuke added from his position on the other side of Neji. The young Uchiha's hands were in his pockets, but his muscles were tense and his glare bespoke of barely restrained aggression.

Knowing that, especially in his current condition, it would only take one of the half-demons to forcefully "remove" him from Hinata, Neji simply inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. Once he exhaled, his eyes opened and he backed away from Hinata, fists clenched at his sides, but calmer overall.

Once he was back in full control of himself, Neji chanced a glance at Hinata, only to feel somewhat taken aback at what he saw. Hinata was looking away, her face pale, and her fingers rubbing against where his fingers had been a moment before. Seeing her wince made his heartbeat quicken, feeling enraged at himself for actually harming her.

Then, he noticed that the two half-demons were keeping their watchful gazes on him, staying alert in case he was going to do anything else against Hinata. Even if he were going to, they had already placed themselves somewhat in front of her, so that she would've been shielded by their bodies.

While keeping an eye on Neji, Gaara glanced at Hinata to assess whatever damage was done. Sasuke, too, gave her a once-over before asking for confirmation. "Are you hurt?"

Hinata looked between them, and then at the agonized Neji before replying with a reassuring smile. "I'm okay, don't worry."

Sasuke nodded towards the door. "Let's go then."

Gaara seemed to silently agree, motioning for Hinata to walk in front of them, their postures betraying their instinct to protect her from all sides. That was why Hinata ended up looking at Neji again, and when she took the full anguished weight of his gaze, she felt compassion move inside her.

She turned to Gaara and rested a hand on his forearm. "I'd like to stay and talk to Neji alone."

The redhead's brow furrowed with concern, while his eyes searched her face perceptively.

Overhearing the request, Sasuke tilted his head to look at her, and looking as expressionless as ever, he replied simply. "No."

Hinata's eyes widened at his decidedly stern answer. "But—"

His hand moved to the back of her skull to help push her forward. "Get moving."

Wrenching out of his grip, she faced him pleadingly. "Please? I'll be fine, I promise, I just…I need to…"

Sasuke gazed at her for what seemed like hours, before he finally rolled his eyes. "Fine, do what you want."

Hinata smiled in thanks and waited until the two departed the room before turning to Neji, who had remained in the same position.

Knowing that Hinata had chosen to remain in the room with him, Neji faced away from her even more. "You should go."

"I want to talk to you," she murmured quietly.

He opened his mouth to say something, but chose against it and instead turned to go lean on his balcony railing. Staring dazedly at the outside view, Neji rested his forearms on the railing with his back slightly hunched.

Amidst the temporary and awkward silence, Hinata moved to stand beside him. When she noticed that he was staying resolutely quiet, Hinata hesitated before speaking. "I…I'm sorry, Neji." She paused to gulp. "I never meant for it to turn out this way."

He chuckled humorlessly. "Which part? Me getting hurt, or you turning your back on your own home?"

"Neither," she replied. "And I don't know yet if I'm going to leave with him or not."

Appearing exhausted, Neji began to rub his fingers against his temples, his tone emanating misunderstanding. "Hinata…Why did you even tell me about the ultimatum? You could've kept it a secret from all of us, and then you wouldn't have had to worry about us stopping you."

Hinata watched him carefully. "What do you mean?"

He finally looked at her, and his gray-white eyes focused on her moonlit ones. "I mean…that now that you've told us that you _might_ leave, I for certain am not going to just sit by and watch you go. Now knowing about the ultimatum, all three of us are going to find a way to keep you here no matter what you decide. Understand?"

She barely nodded.

Neji sighed. "Are you starting to wish you had kept it secret now?"

Hinata gazed blankly at the view outside Neji's balcony, realizing how different it was than hers. Her view had always consisted of the mysterious forest outside the Konoha walls, tempting her with a freedom she never knew existed until she had met Itachi. And then there was Neji's view, which consisted of a simple overlook of the village.

Any time he would look out at his balcony, she would picture him being vaguely mesmerized by the villagers moving about in their daily lives: growing up, finding work, getting married, having children…It was so simple, so easy, so innocent. It could seem boring to some, and enviable to others. She wondered if Neji looked upon the scene with comforting finality, knowing that life was supposed to be that way for every human.

And yet…the whole time, she had been dreaming of a world so much more wonderfully complex, one that happened to reside just outside the Konoha walls.

"Hinata," Neji brought her attention back to his earlier question.

Hinata inhaled unnoticeably. "No…I don't wish that I had kept it secret from you…or Gaara or Sasuke." She turned to him with a small smile, recognizing the confused knot between his eyebrows. "I decided that I don't want to keep anymore secrets from you."

It took a lot of effort for Neji to restrain the urge to express his inner shock.

Hinata inched closer to him and placed her hand over his in a comforting, placating manner. "You're a part of my life, Neji, and you always will be. If there's something you want to know about me, then I want to tell you, so that you know how much you matter to me."

Neji gulped with inner anxiety, but didn't remove his hand from under her soft palm. His voice became softer as he spoke. "Do you remember when we were kids, and you got fairly sick that one time?" his eyes took on a faraway quality, while one corner of his mouth turned upward. "I must have been nine or ten at the time, but I remember taking care of you so vividly."

"_**I'm her guardian, so I'm supposed to be by her side…even when she's sick."**_

Hinata could recall being sick, but she had only come down with a fever because she had stayed outside and wept over Itachi's absence. Not only Gaara had comforted her that time, but Neji as well.

Still barely smiling and eyes soft with fond memories, Neji turned his hand over so that her palm fell against his own. "Do you remember what I asked you…before we both fell asleep?"

Hinata stayed quiet, trying to remember what had been spoken between them. Her eyes narrowed in concentration, still trying to remember. "I think…I remember you saying…"

_**"Hinata? Can I be in your heart?"**_

_**"You are already in my heart, Neji."**_

_**"Forever?"**_

_**"Forever and ever."**_

_**"Neji? Can I be in your heart, too?"**_

_**"You **_**are **_**my heart, Hina."**_

Tears moistened Hinata's eyes as she thought back on the happy memory, so full of innocence and love. "I remember."

Neji nodded, satisfied, as he brought her knuckles to rest against his lips. Keeping them placed there, he looked at her and murmured against her fingers. "I still love you, Hinata."

"Neji," she whimpered, practically feeling him break her heart in two. She leaned forward, pressing her forehead gently against his, while a few tears managed to escape her eyes.

"Stay, Hinata. Don't leave with him." He whispered pleadingly. "I will make you happy, I swear." His free hand moved to wipe away her tears. "I want to marry you and raise a family together, and grow old with you," he chuckled at the same time that she released a choked sob. "I will _never _stop loving you. All you have to do is stay with me…Stay with me, Hinata."

Hinata couldn't say a word, though not for a lack of trying. "Neji—"

Seeing the indecisiveness brewing in her gaze, Neji sighed heavily and backed away from her slowly. When there was a safe amount of distance between them, he dared to glance at her again, and his heart clenched at seeing her torn and dejected form. Although he believed that she entered into this situation on her own, it still hurt to realize that this ultimatum was affecting her far more than it was him, or even the demon, perhaps.

If she were to leave, Neji would be hurt, along with her many friends at the temple. However, if she were to stay, Neji imagined that the demon might be hurt as well. In that case, one side was going to get hurt due to Hinata's decision, and that was obvious.

What wasn't so obvious, or plain to see, was what it would do to Hinata. Half of her heart belonged with her demon, while the other half belonged with her friends at her temple home. Whatever world she chose to belong to, half of her heart would die at the loss of the other. This was not a win-win situation for her, at all.

In fact, it could possibly break her.

"Two more days," Neji murmured, alerting her attention to him. "In two more days, we will all know your final decision…whatever that happens to be."

Hinata looked at him morosely before nodding in affirmation.

* * *

Hinata gasped and jumped before Sasuke could swipe at her legs with his own. Though, before she had even touched the ground, he had leaned back and kicked his foot into her stomach, sending her flying back to land on the ground with an "oomph".

Sitting up with a whimper and holding her stomach, Hinata opened her eyes only to see Sasuke hunched down in front of her, his elbows resting on his knees.

Black eyes bored into her white eyes, his entire gaze radiating displeasure and disappointment. "If you're going to keep training like that, you might as well go fight against a wall and stop wasting my time."

"I'm sorry," she murmured. "Was I that bad?"

"Worse," he stood up and offered his hand for her to take. "When do you have to make the final decision?" he asked, referring to whether she would choose to stay at the temple or leave with Itachi.

Taking his hand, and letting him lever her up, Hinata responded. "Not tomorrow night, but the night after."

"In that case," he stepped closer to her. "You should stop thinking about it until then. Or, at least, don't think about it when you're training, otherwise there's no point."

"You're right…," she averted her gaze shamefully.

Sasuke merely placed his palm on her head, his thumb brushing against her forehead. He waited until she was looking at him again before talking. "The only thing you should be thinking about during training is how to counter my attacks and when to make ones of your own. Strategy is all you should be thinking about right now. As soon as we're done, you can go back to wallowing about your ultimatum."

Despite herself, she giggled and nodded. "Okay, Sasuke."

He nodded, satisfied, and went back to his prior position, but he had barely turned around when Hinata came running at him full-speed. He had to dodge her first attack and block a couple hits after that, all the while smirking at her barrage of attacks. Finally, she was training the way she was supposed to be.

Honestly, Sasuke hadn't thought he would be training with her again anytime soon, especially since Neji still wasn't well enough to participate in anything except staying in his room. However, Lady Tsunade had ordered Hinata to get back into training and working at the pavilion since Neji wasn't in any real danger anymore. Though, since Neji couldn't fulfill his guardian duties yet, Tsunade had assigned Sasuke the job of guarding Hinata until Neji could come back to it.

Sasuke wouldn't have minded if Tsunade hadn't teased him about it afterward, saying, "This will give you the perfect excuse to be near your girlfriend all the time. Just make sure you let her do her work, and no dragging her off somewhere dark and private, if you know what I mean."

The matriarch's comment made Sasuke seriously question just how "adult" the adults at the temple were. He was beginning to wonder if _all_ of them lacked maturity, not just Kakashi, who could be perversely immature sometimes…or all the time.

Either way, Sasuke was stuck guarding Hinata until Neji was back in action, whenever that was going to be.

Sasuke kept the spar going until they were called in for lunch, at which point, he sped up and knocked her to the ground, on her back once again.

Breathing heavily, Hinata closed her eyes and simply laid back on the grass, not wanting to move until her breathing had normalized. Sasuke came over and sat down, so that he was next to her, but facing her as well.

Hinata sat up and took the canteen he was offering. She gulped the water down her parched throat, and then handed it back to her training companion. Sasuke drank after her, wiping a hand across his mouth afterwards.

Hinata was the first to speak. "You're so fast,"

"Maybe you should speed up a little more."

She shook her head with a smile. "That was as fast as I can go…and you're still so much faster."

"Hn," he took another drink. "Then let's hope, for your sake, that you never have to go up against an opponent that's faster than you." He watched her laugh, before his expression became more serious. "Come to my room after dinner. We need to talk."

Before Hinata had a chance to reply, he had already stood up and walked away.

"Hinata!" Temari called from the doorway back into the temple. "Come on!"

"Coming!" Hinata replied, standing up to follow her friend.

* * *

Sasuke didn't say much of anything to her the rest of the day. When they were at the pavilion, Hinata was rushing about, healing as many patients as possible, while Sasuke simply watched her without speaking.

Even the walk back to the temple was silent, despite that he was walking right next to her. Although, if she had to be honest with herself, she wasn't exactly trying to initiate conversation either.

At dinner, they went their separate ways, and Hinata began to feel comfortable again, sitting next to Temari and across from Gaara. Neji had even come to eat with them, though his demeanor had become a mix of fatigue and restless energy. When Hinata smiled at him in greeting, her heart seemed to soar in relieved happiness when he turned to her with an amiable murmur and the beginnings of a smile.

For a moment, and as conversation heightened and laughter became contagious, Hinata could almost forget about the decision she would be making soon and the consequences that would follow.

Almost…

Upon entering Sasuke's room that night, she honestly didn't know what to expect. He had said that they needed to talk, and she could only assume that it was about the ultimatum. However, what could he have to say that Neji didn't already make clear? Perhaps Sasuke was just going to put more emphasis on how stupid it would be of her to leave with Itachi.

That had to be it.

But what if it wasn't?

"Close the door," Sasuke ordered as soon as she entered completely.

She did as she was told and stood awkwardly before deciding to approach him. He was sitting on the side of his bed, back hunched and elbows resting on his knees. His gaze didn't waver from hers, though his expression remained unreadable.

"You can sit, if you want." He suggested, watching as she debated about it uncomfortably. She finally seemed to make up her mind and sit next to him, keeping a respectful amount of distance between them.

She sat up straight and rested her hands on her lap demurely, not knowing how else to sit, and feeling out of place sitting on Sasuke's bed, in his room, his domain.

Silence spread for a while before he sighed and began speaking in a subdued and tired tone. "I told you that Itachi killed my parents and destroyed my village, right?"

"Yes," she whispered, glancing at him uncertainly.

He nodded once. "I thought about it, and I want to tell you what happened that night."

Hinata shook her head before replying. "You don't have to do that—"

"Yes. I do." He turned to her with almost narrowed eyes. "If you decide to go with him, then you need to know exactly what you're dealing with."

"I know he's a demon,"

"No. You really have no idea." He pressed. "You only know what he's allowed you to see, but you don't know what he's really capable of. He killed his own father, and then destroyed everything else…just because my father was doing something that Itachi didn't like."

Hinata furrowed her brows, inwardly refusing to believe that Itachi would do that. Sasuke made it sound as though Itachi ruined Sasuke's life because of a difference of opinion. "I'm not saying that what he did was right, because it wasn't, but…" she gulped and stared imploringly at the young Uchiha. "I don't believe that Itachi would do something like that just because he didn't agree with it. He's not like that."

Sasuke opened his mouth to argue, but apparently thought better of it, and averted his gaze to stare somewhere else. "When I was a kid, Itachi would come to visit my village…per my father's request, of course. It wasn't so bad, because he would actually…take me out to train a couple times." Sasuke scoffed. "I tried to get my father to train with me dozens of times, but in the end, it was actually Itachi that spent time teaching me different techniques."

That surprised her. Sasuke spoke so little of Itachi that to hear that Itachi might have had something like a brotherly relationship with him at one point…it was kind of shocking. Despite her surprise, however, she kept silent, letting Sasuke tell the story.

"Anyway," he cleared his throat. "It always seemed that whenever Itachi came to the village, when he wasn't training me, he was arguing with my father. I could never hear what they said, but it always sounded pretty bad." He licked his lips. "Then, one day, Itachi told me to meet him at our usual spot deep in the woods, where we trained. He had told me that he would be a little late, but to stay there until he arrived. He told me not to leave, no matter what."

"Did he show up?" she asked quietly.

"No," he stared hard at his still hands. "But I waited, anyway. Until…I saw clouds of smoke coming from my village. Assuming something caught on fire, I ran back to make sure that my mother was okay. That's when I saw what Itachi really was."

Hinata watched as Sasuke's eyes glazed over as if he was replaying the memory in his mind. Nothing was said for a long, stretched moment, and then he gulped and opened his mouth.

"Itachi and my father were fighting and there was blood all over Itachi's sword. Then I noticed my mother's body behind my father, and she wasn't moving, so I ran over to…" he shook his head. "She was killed, and my father had said that Itachi had done it…that he had betrayed us, and murdered everyone in the village. I guess I passed out after that," he shrugged. "When I woke up, Itachi was there, so I knew that my father had been killed as well."

"Is that when…?" Hinata motioned to Sasuke's tattoo-like marking on his wrist.

"Yeah," he replied, absently rubbing the marking. "He said some things and then he left me alone on the side of the road."

"_**It had to be done."**_

"_**Half-demons were never supposed to exist."**_

A hand fell over his own, startling him from his past memories.

Hinata gazed at him with sympathy. "I'm so sorry, Sasuke."

He pulled away quickly and adopted a glare. "Do you understand now?" he saw her bite her lip and look away. "He destroyed my village, murdered my mother, killed our father, and then marked me for death. And you're actually thinking about leaving with a monster like that?"

"Maybe he's changed since then…," she mumbled, hopefully.

Sasuke snorted derisively, and spoke to her in a patronizing manner. "Creatures like him don't change, Hinata. They just want to make you believe whatever they want you to believe, and you're a fool if you fall for it."

She swallowed and clenched her hands together tightly, turning her knuckles white.

Sasuke seemed to soften for just a moment before whispering in concerned earnest. "You're just going to get hurt, Hinata." _Like I did…_

* * *

**Day 2**

If she were to think about it, though she didn't, Hinata had only gotten perhaps three or four hours of sleep. Her mind had been running on overdrive as it kept replaying Neji's promises and Sasuke's warnings. When she woke up, the torture began all over again.

Hinata started out leaning against her balcony at the early hours of the morning. Eventually, she couldn't stand staring out into the forest, where she knew Itachi to be, and instead slouched down to the ground, leaning her back against one of the railing posts. Her gaze lowered to only seeing the white cloth of her gown.

As much as logic told her that the day would eventually come when she had to make a choice between worlds, it didn't stop her from wishing, hoping, praying that she could just…_not _have to choose. Was it really so wrong to want both worlds, to _have _both worlds? She had managed it for many years, so why was it suddenly a problem?

Was it because more people knew about the situation now? Gaara had once been the only one who knew, and while not easy, the situation was not as difficult then as it was after Sasuke and Neji found out.

She knew Gaara had worried for her many times, but it was always overridden by his desire for her happiness. Sasuke, on the other hand, didn't seem as intent on her happiness with Itachi, but he was also not as furious about it as Neji turned out to be.

She had betrayed Neji's trust—she knew that, but it didn't stop the guilt from fogging over her emotions and any rational thought.

Hinata sighed in exhaustion at her thoughts and leaned her head back against one of the balcony railings, turning her head slightly so that she could stare down at the courtyard below her. It surprised her to see most of the other temple residents out there at such an early hour of the day. None of them seemed to be training, either. They were just…enjoying themselves and each other. They all looked so carefree and happy; it made her envious.

She could see Temari and Shikamaru standing together, talking with smiles alighting their faces, and the occasional loud laughter that seemed to burst out of Temari, which only seemed to make Shikamaru move in closer as if he wanted to relish in her joyfulness. While their intimacy was not noticeable, it brewed below the surface, simmering just underneath the skin, and hinting at it with their eyes.

The very idea made Hinata turn from them to instead see Tenten and Kankuro in a situation that made them look as though they were children once more. Tenten was laughing raucously, holding one of Kankuro's puppet tools high above her head in a taunting manner. Meanwhile, Kankuro chased after her, yelling jokingly about what he was going to do to her when he caught her. That, of course, only made Tenten laugh more heartily before running faster.

Hinata began to smile wistfully and it only increased when she almost passed over the lounging forms of Lee and Sakura. While they were not talking or joking around in any manner, they seemed so at peace with each other, with Lee laying on the grass and Sakura curling up against him, his hand running through her pink locks, her hand tracing circles on his chest.

At one point, Lee leaned over to whisper into her ear, and whatever it was, it made Sakura beam with happiness before pressing her lips firmly against his. It made Hinata wonder if her and Itachi could ever be like that…if she chose to go with him, that is.

She _wanted _to be like that with Itachi, she wanted that kind of intimacy with him, but was it worth never returning home for? Looking at Lee and Sakura sure as hell made it seem worth it, which is why Hinata shook herself and chose to find Ino and Naruto instead, and that wasn't too hard at all. She just had to listen for their voices and they would be found.

Sure enough, Naruto and Ino were heard having yet another argument about something or other, but what shocked Hinata was that in the middle of said argument, they stopped abruptly only to start smiling slyly at each other. It then proceeded into Ino barreling into Naruto, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck just as his arms wound protectively around her waist. A most tender look came over Naruto's face that Hinata had never seen before, and it was only directed to Ino.

They may argue almost constantly, but that look alone betrayed to Hinata just how much love was shared between the two. The arguing was just another way for them to show that love, to show how easily they clicked together, and how fiercely they would fight to protect their love. Would they abandon their family for that kind of love?

It seemed they would, so why was Hinata having such a hard time with it?

Probably because when she thought of never seeing her temple family again, it made her heart clench painfully. Conversely, when she thought of never seeing Itachi again…she felt as though she couldn't breathe, couldn't move…couldn't _live_.

However, looking at Ino and Naruto, Hinata realized that they would make whatever sacrifice necessary to be together, because they were simply in love. Hinata knew that Ino didn't have a doubt in her mind that Naruto was in love with her, just as Naruto knew without a doubt that Ino was in love with him. And therein laid the problem.

Hinata knew without hesitation that she was in love with Itachi, but she had no proof that he felt the same way. She told herself that he may care for her, since he had always protected her so fiercely, but that didn't mean that he was in love with her. And just because he kissed her and clearly desired her didn't mean that he loved her, either.

Was she really willing to abandon her home and family for someone who could possibly just tire of her one day?

No. She could not.

Her eyes immediately started to tear up, but she quickly shook herself. _Don't you cry about this, Hinata. _She reprimanded herself. _You got yourself into this, now you have to get yourself out. You're the one who's been avoiding this decision for years, and now you have to face up to it. No more wishing that everyone else could make the hard decisions for you…_

As if nodding in assent to her own inner thoughts, Hinata stood and left her room as quickly as possible, suddenly feeling suffocated. It was time she stopped fussing about it and finally made a choice; though, now, it didn't feel so hard.

It wouldn't be until later that she would realize that making the decision was not the hardest part. Saying goodbye would be the most difficult part by far.

* * *

While feeling hollow inside, Hinata also felt a sense of relief at knowing what she wanted to do—what she _needed_ to do. However, she knew that her mind could still change, though she hoped it wouldn't. The best way to heal from such a choice was to accept responsibility for being the one who made it. Hinata knew that, which was why she was genuinely smiling when she met with everyone for breakfast.

It was why she trained to the best of her ability that day, pleasing Sasuke with her determination.

By lunch, she was laughing freely with Temari, smiling with Gaara, and holding a pleasant conversation with Neji.

At the pavilion, her friends marveled at her boundless energy and how she never seemed to stay still long enough to have a conversation or to rest. During it all, she smiled in happiness at the hard labor and the ability to heal her kinsmen.

Sasuke seemed relieved.

Neji seemed hopeful, and it wasn't just because of his recovery.

Gaara, however, seemed concerned, and perhaps a little suspicious.

At dinner, Gaara was the only one watching Hinata with calculating caution. He was the only one trying to read her thoughts, the only one trying to uncover her mask of happiness, if it was truly a mask, that is.

He noticed that Temari had seemed apprehensive about Hinata's sudden mood change as well, but only to later disregard it so that she could instead enjoy it with her best friend. Was Gaara the only one looking for a crack in the mask, a hidden weakness, tears in the shadows?

Apparently, he was.

Hinata chose that moment to glance at Gaara, her perceptive gaze taking in his own. For a short second, she was not smiling or laughing, and her white orbs revealed everything to him. Gaara's own eyes widened at what he saw, but the moment vanished as soon as Hinata smiled tenderly at him before turning her attention back to Temari.

Before Gaara knew it, many started to leave the table to go to their bedrooms, choosing to retire for the night. This included Hinata, who accepted her guardian's offer of being escorted to her room. Sasuke left the dining room with Hinata and Neji, just as others followed behind. Gaara almost stayed until Temari called out to him, urging him to "at least _try _to act like a guardian", which was then followed by her joking laughter and Naruto's playful nudging.

Meanwhile, on the way to Hinata's bedroom, she conversed easily with Sasuke, who smirked and teased her before nodding his goodnight and heading towards his own bedroom. Neji chose to escort her to her door, but didn't press to reach out for her hand, since his inner feelings about Hinata were still conflicted due to her longing for another.

Conversation didn't come easily to them anymore, and while they had reached a better place than when Neji was only glaring at her, it still wasn't back to normal. Hinata could only hope that with time, Neji would forgive her completely and become more willing to rebuild their broken trust. Neji would need that time, but that didn't mean that he wasn't willing.

During the remainder of the walk, they didn't say anything at all. In fact, it wasn't until Hinata reached her bedroom door that she turned to him and smiled. "Thank you for escorting me, Neji."

He nodded before speaking, though his tone was more stoic than conversational. "I am your guardian first and foremost, Hinata."

She looked down, her smile becoming shaky. "Right…sorry."

He gulped, nodded and looked away, saying nothing.

Hinata watched him, debating on whether she should say something or not.

Neji almost seemed like he was having the same internal debate before he finally glanced at her quickly, turning his body halfway toward the hall. "Well, goodnight."

In reflex, Hinata grasped onto his arm. "Neji,"

He didn't turn towards her, but he did stop to wait patiently for whatever she had to say.

"I…" she hesitated, feeling regret at detaining him when she didn't even know what to say. And then it hit her. "I just…wanted you to know that I love you."

Neji's head spun around to face her, seeming slightly startled. When his eyes met hers, he saw something there that he couldn't quite figure out, but it was her words that made him soften. "I know," he whispered, but said nothing more.

Hinata's shoulders relaxed to match her reassured smile.

"Goodnight, Hinata." He murmured.

"Goodnight, Neji." She replied, watching as he carried on his way toward his room. She waited until he had turned the corner at the end of the hall before retreating into her own room.

Not bothering to light up her room in any way, she walked sedately toward her bed, without bothering to change her clothes, and simply lay down. Finding comfort in her familiar pillows and blankets, she stared blankly out her balcony, her gaze resting solely on what resided in the forest beyond.

Hours later, that is exactly what Gaara saw when he appeared on her balcony in a whirl of sand. So withdrawn did she look that she didn't even glance at him when he appeared. Even as he crossed the room to stand at her bedside, she still gazed at the forest with unrelenting resignation.

At that, it became no surprise that Gaara had to start the conversation. "Tomorrow, you make your final decision…though it seems you've already made it."

"I have," Hinata remarked silently, still not looking at him. "Are you here because you think I will choose to leave?"

"No," he paused. "I want to know _why _you made your decision."

Hinata seemed to flinch, but it was there and gone in a second. "I just want to do what's right."

"Right for who?" Gaara retorted quickly. "You or everyone here?"

She stayed silent.

"Hinata," he began again, his gravelly voice coming off surprisingly soft and comforting. "I have known your secret much longer than anyone here. I knew about your demon before anyone could even think about the chance of you not being in your bed all night."

At his silence, Hinata glanced in his direction only to look away again. "So…?"

His head was bowed and his eyes stared unseeingly at the floor. "So, I can comprehend what you can, and what Sasuke and Neji cannot." He paused again, as if thinking about what he wanted to say; however, when he spoke, it was as if he already knew. "Neji can't comprehend it, because he refuses to acknowledge that you could be in love with someone other than him. Sasuke cannot comprehend it, because he is clouded by what his brother has done to him."

Hinata's brow furrowed. "So, then what is it? What can't they comprehend?"

"The fact that you, a deity, are in love with a demon." He said it with such resolve that it made Hinata's eyes close painfully. "And the fact that even though he may not be able to admit it to himself just yet, your demon is in love with you, as well."

Hinata inhaled shakily, feeling the statement wash through her like a tidal wave. "How can you know that?"

"Because I have seen him with you," Gaara edged closer to her, seeing that she was no longer withdrawn from the conversation; she was actually listening. "Because I have seen the way he looks at you, and the way he touches you, and behaves around you when others are nearby. I thought it was something else at first, but I was wrong."

For the first time since Gaara entered her room, Hinata looked at him, _really _looked at him, and what she saw was something so different than what she had seen in Neji and Sasuke. In fact, Gaara was speaking to her in a way that he never had before; he was actually putting forth added effort in order to convince Hinata to…choose Itachi? Is that what he was saying?

Neji and Sasuke both had tried to convince her that staying would be her best option; whereas Gaara seemed to do the opposite.

"Why?" she whispered it, unsure if he even heard her. "Why are you telling me this?"

Gaara analyzed how perfectly distraught she appeared, as if she had just removed the mask of happiness that she had been wearing all day, only to reveal what was truly hiding underneath. Pure agony.

She was still lying on her side, but she had curled in on herself in an instinctual way to protect her vulnerability. Her once implacable expression had morphed into something so much more painful.

Her words had cut into him deeply, making him feel as if she were begging him to not say anymore, to just let her decision stay the way it was. But Gaara was determined to make her see what Neji and Sasuke had tried protecting her against.

Without further incentive, Gaara kneeled on the ground beside her bed so that he was eye-level with her. While his expression stayed immovable as always, his voice was anything but. "I'm telling you this," he began to answer, his gravelly voice becoming muted. "Because you're making a mistake."

Her breathing shivered and her eyes fluttered with emotion, but she didn't dare say anything.

Gaara opened his mouth slightly, but stopped mid-action only to close his mouth and clench his jaw, his gaze narrowing in inner dispute. Finally, he inhaled and spoke resolutely to the very deity he had always considered to be one of his best friends. "You need to go wherever you will truly be happy. Don't think about anything else, understand?"

The tears came to her eyes, but she refused to release them on account of realizing that Gaara was right. So, instead of crying like she was normally inclined to do, she breathed in deeply and when she exhaled, she nodded once. "Gaara," she murmured, her voice strong and unwavering. "I have a favor to ask…and it'll be the last time you have to do this for me."

For the first time in a very long time, Gaara's mouth formed into something resembling a proud smile.

* * *

Since the moment that Itachi had watched Hinata depart over the Konoha wall to mull over her decision, he had spent the past day or so in a very unproductive fashion. He still ate and bathed and slept, but other than that, he did practically nothing at all. Most of his time was spent hunting or training, since those were the only two things that kept his mind occupied thoroughly. Otherwise, he would revert back to thinking about what Hinata would most likely end up choosing.

He analyzed the situation in as many different angles as he could, and the majority of his results ended with him feeling frustrated or disappointed in some way. Whichever way he looked at the situation, it seemed as if he was going to lose in the battle against Hinata's family. After all, her attachment to them began long before she knew _he_ existed. So, what chance did he possibly have of winning her?

Had he done enough to convince her to leave with him, to choose him?

Had he already lost her?

In a spurt of anger, directed mostly at himself, Itachi halted his current training session in order to lunge his sword into a nearby tree, the blade so sharp that it went nearly all the way through the trunk.

Releasing his hold on the weapon, Itachi backed away a couple steps, and found himself absolutely furious with his thoughts. Even after all this time, it still managed to confound him how a little deity had _somehow _found a way to turn his world upside down. While to every other creature in the world, he was still the same old cold-hearted demon, it was not like that with Hinata. She had changed him, altered him…and he had allowed it to happen, because…

Because…he didn't know when it happened, but at some point…

Hinata had become the center of his world.

A part of him _really _hated that.

Still angry, and muscles still corded with tension, Itachi regained his sword, and after sheathing it, he began his trek back to his cave with the simple intention to…do something.

His mind wandered repeatedly and did not stop until he had entered his cave, at which point, all thoughts came to an abrupt halt.

His entire body froze the second that a scent carried its way to him, alighting his senses with a teasing familiarity that triggered his desire in the way that only one scent could do.

Blood-red eyes trailed upward, only to land on a figure standing in the shadows on the opposite side of the fire as him. He didn't need his eyes to tell him what he already knew, but he looked anyway.

There she was, standing there, waiting for him, her body covered in a dark cloak, the hood pulled over her head, the shadows making her opal eyes shine like twin moons.

She gulped at seeing his imposing figure just standing at the cave entrance, staring at her silently, yet so intensely tempting. "I didn't get lost this time," she murmured nervously, her smile polite but shaky.

Her words seemed to jolt him out of silence before he placed his sword gently against the wall, and then began to walk towards her. "What are you doing here?"

Hinata stood her ground, though seeing him stalk toward her like a hungry predator made her restless. It made her heartbeat quicken when her eyes found his, only to see his red eyes full of a livid desire—a desire that she felt with just as much intensity as him. _No! _Hinata reprimanded herself. _It can't begin like this. _She knew that if it did, she would be in his bed long before she could spit out what she needed to say to him.

The closer he came to her, the more her body trembled, and the more erratic her heartbeat became.

Not pausing in his walk, his façade remained detached. "What have you decided?"

The low timbre of his voice piqued her attraction even more, but she was determined to have this conversation. "I need…to explain it to you first."

"Explain what?"

"Explain why I made my decision,"

Perhaps it was just Itachi's paranoia, but that statement seemed like a rejection all in its own. This was what made him pause in his walk, not moving from his position that was only a couple feet from her, and there, he waited.

Seeing him stop made her more comfortable, and while her heart was still pounding, it had lessened enough for her to at least _try _to put her thoughts in order. She wondered if her presence was as much a distraction to him, as his was to her.

"Explain," he demanded, his arms coming to cross lazily over his chest, his face deceptively calm.

Hinata took a deep breath and started with the first thought that crossed her mind. "When I was deciding about what to choose, I tried to consider what I _should _do, rather than…what I might want to do." She paused, meeting his gaze for a short moment before looking down at the ground. "I also told Gaara, Sasuke, and Neji about it…"

At that, Itachi narrowed his eyes in displeasure, but Hinata was still focused on the ground, so she didn't see the miniscule detail.

Instead, Hinata's eyes drifted to how her hands were wringing in front of her body, her thoughts starting to jumble. "Sasuke told me that you were dangerous…that I would be a fool if I left with you." She smiled half-heartedly. "But…I've always known that you're dangerous," she looked up at him then. "But I also know that you would never hurt me."

With their gazes locked, it was actually Itachi who looked away first, his eyes choosing to stare at the blazing fire instead of her. "And what did your guardian say?" he murmured quietly.

Hinata bit her lip, a smile itching its way onto her lips. "Neji…wanted me to stay. He promised me a life of happiness with him. He said he would marry me,"

Itachi's eyes flashed, and he looked at her, seeing her smile and how she seemed to be staring into the distance, picturing her future with her guardian. It made his chest clench in the strangest of ways.

She continued. "He said that one day we would have children and that we would grow old together." She laughed breathily. "I love Neji, and I know that he could make me happy. He and Sasuke had convinced me to stay."

Itachi scowled at first, but then trained his expression to hide his inner anger and ferocity, choosing to instead appear collected and uncaring. He took a step back and motioned to the exit of the cave. "Then, go."

Hinata watched him, and it made her heart freeze at how coldly he looked at her, as if she had suddenly become a stranger to him. She panicked, since she had not finished saying what she needed to, and edged toward him. "No, wait," she gulped. "Please just listen,"

"You've already made your decision," he began to turn away from her until her hand reached out to grasp onto his cloak-sleeve covering his forearm.

"Itachi," her voice pleaded with him desperately. "Please understand. Neji and Sasuke may have convinced me to stay, but it was actually Gaara who told me that I would be making a mistake if I didn't leave with you."

Brows furrowing, Itachi glanced back at her, hope sparking inward that went unacknowledged.

Hinata was terrified of his possible reaction, but she strove for bravery and said what she should have said a while ago. "I love my home and everyone there, but…I'm _in love_ with you." Her voice shook with emotion and her fingers trembled against his arm. "And…I want to go wherever you go…if you'll allow me."

Itachi seemed quiet, speechless, until… "Say it again,"

Hinata furrowed her brows, slightly confused. "I'm choosing to go with you…?"

"Before that," he turned more towards her, invading her space, his eyes boring into her own with a desperate intensity, a need to hear what he had never heard from anyone before.

Realizing what it was he wanted, Hinata began to slowly smile. "I love you, Itachi."

He breathed inwardly.

Nearing a giggle of pleasant amusement and astounding relief, Hinata instead neared closer to him, gently planting her palms against his chest, and then proceeding to stroke upward. One of her hands ended up on his shoulder near his neck, and the other found its way to the side of his face. "I love you."

Itachi's heart pounded and clenched in a rhythm unknown to him, and all he could do was pull her against him and claim her lips with his own in complete and utter euphoria.

His actions were not fierce or possessive as Hinata might have expected; instead, he was tender with her, gentle, loving…as if conveying what he could not say with words.

Hinata had chosen him.

She had chosen _him_.

He backed away for air, only to hear Hinata's melodious laughter breathe against his lips, her laughter symbolizing her immense relief and happiness. He leaned forward to press a half-open kiss against her mouth, suddenly taking notice of a knapsack leaning against the cave wall, where Hinata had been standing prior. It proved to him that she had really come here to tell him that her final decision, her final choice was to leave with him.

Smiling against her skin, he dragged his mouth down to her throat, leaving a trail of wistful kisses that made Hinata's pulse thrum pleasantly. He could feel her fingers pull at his cloak, signaling how much she wanted him, so he obligingly removed the irritating article of clothing, not caring where it landed.

It seemed only seconds after his cloak came off that Hinata started pulling at his leather armor, which resulted in making Itachi laugh against her neck. "Impatient little deity," he murmured before possessing her mouth once more.

In response, Hinata simply breathed his name, her voice pleading and begging to be closer to him. Clothes had become nothing but an obstacle at the moment. She picked at the ties on his armor, loosening the garment so that he simply had to shrug it off for it to be gone.

As soon as he was topless, Hinata immediately began raking her nails over his chest and stomach before reaching around to his back, delighting in the way his muscles moved beneath his skin. He groaned at the contact, her touch lighting fires of desire within his blood, the same demon blood that urged him over and over to take her, possess her, claim her.

His mouth moved back to her neck again, the suction making her head fall back and her hands to grip even more onto his shoulders. At the same time, Itachi's own hands went to work at removing her own cloak, dispatching it as if it were an enemy. Just as swiftly, he began to remove her gown, starting teasingly at the bottom and working his way up, loving the way it made her shiver in anticipation.

Though probably the only virgin left at the temple, Hinata was not ignorant to the ways of sex. Kurenai had spent an entire hour or two discussing the topic with the deities when they were old enough to comprehend the act. Not to mention, Hinata had also heard enough talk between the other deities to fairly know what to expect. She knew the first time would be painful, as she had heard from Temari and Tenten, but Sakura and Ino had expressed enthusiastically how pleasurable it could be as well.

Of course, Sakura and Ino's descriptions sounded all rainbows and flowers, and was definitely not the kind of information that Hinata required. However, when Itachi's tongue stroked her pulse point in her neck, sucking just slightly, and his hand caressed her thigh while moving her gown upward, she couldn't even think of pain.

All she could think about was the immense pleasure, and how much she truly loved this demon. If he asked it of her, she would gladly devote her life to him in whatever way imaginable so long as he didn't stop what he was doing.

Itachi's thoughts were not far from hers. For the past few weeks, they had danced around each other, containing their desires, and while the first kiss had broken open the floodgates, her confession had accelerated it tremendously. It came to the point where Itachi couldn't stop his ministrations even if he wanted to, which he _really _did not. He would not stop until he had taken her—her body, mind, heart, and soul.

So wrapped up in the pleasure of his touch that she almost didn't realize it when she had been completely disrobed. Before she knew it, her gown had been lifted over her head and discarded somewhere behind her. Itachi's touch had disappeared at that moment, making her eyes turn to him, her vision struggling to focus. What she saw took her breath away.

She watched as his red eyes swam upward from her toes, lingering below her waist and again at her breasts before finally settling on her face, which had turned a bright tomato red. Hinata yearned to cover herself out of embarrassment (no one save for the other deities having seen her naked before) but she clenched her fists at her sides instead, visibly refusing to do it.

That's when she noticed his pleased smirk and a devilish glint to his eyes that bespoke of lustful needs. It made Hinata inhale shakily at the implications, while her heart thudded with excitement.

Finally, after all clothing had been removed, except for Itachi's pants, he lifted her into his arms and carried her over to his small bed, laying her down as gently as if she were glass. His body halfway leaning over her, he simply stared in awe at the picture of beauty and innocence before him. Just the sight of her naked form lying below him, and her look of complete love and trust made his heart stop for just a moment.

In his eyes, Hinata could see him look at her so tenderly, so…lovingly. He may not have ever said anything resembling an "I love you", but it was that look alone that proved to her that she did mean more to him than perhaps either one of them could comprehend.

Despite that they were about to embark on _the _physical act, they both knew that it wouldn't feel nearly as physical as it would emotional, as if they were about to break down some huge barrier between them, one that would unite them in so many ways.

Still fondly looking upon her, Itachi inclined his head so as to take her lips with his once more. Feeling one of her hands come up to rest against his face, he moved one of his own hands up her side, tickling her desires, before cupping one breast. His fingers massaged and twisted and teased, resulting in Hinata's breathing to quicken.

However, her body didn't begin to squirm until his mouth had lowered over her breast to finish what his hand had started, and then only for his other hand to begin administering pleasure to her other breast as well.

Not knowing what else to do besides breath heavily and moan, Hinata wove her hands into his dark hair to both keep him in place and move his attention to her other breast, to which he happily obliged.

It wasn't enough, though. Hinata felt that she needed more; she needed to feel him somewhere else. But she couldn't manage to tell him this, for all that ended up coming out of her was his name whispered in a pleading moan.

As if knowing what she was asking, his mouth found hers just as his hand began to trail slowly over the flat plane of her stomach and not stopping until he was pushing her thighs apart and cupping her in the most intimate of places.

Hinata released a sound that resembled a squeak, prompting her to try to close her legs back together and cover herself, but Itachi wouldn't let her. Instead, his mouth curved into a smile of amusement as his lips brushed against hers. "My Hinata is still so innocent," he murmured huskily, his voice so obviously desire-ridden.

She met his gaze, her brows pulling together in a mixture of emotions. "But that's…that's…"

He chuckled breathily before soothing her. "Let me touch you, Hinata. I will not hurt you."

After a moment of collecting herself, she finally smiled at him. "I know," she spoke with resolve before leaning upward to press her lips against his. At the same time, she could feel his fingers start to stroke her in a placating manner before moving inward to tease and arouse.

Hinata jerked in surprise at the onrush of excited pleasure at having him touch her in places she had never explored herself. It was as if he was an expert at what he was doing, because he touched and teased her like he was the musician and she was his instrument.

She moaned and arched against him, not finding it in herself to stop moving. Her hands and arms moved over him, caressing and grasping wherever she could, wanting to be so much closer to him than she was. He continued his ministrations, twisting and massaging, arousing and soothing, until he had her moving against his hand in an instinctual rhythm.

He pushed her and pushed again until she was nearing her limit, a feeling she didn't know what to do with; she just knew that she needed some type of release that only he could give her. He whispered assurances into her ear, while alternating between doing that and kissing her neck, until she could do nothing else but cry out at the inward explosion that left her trembling and shaking in his arms.

Before she could catch her breath and before her trembling had come close to stopping, Itachi was suddenly naked and above her, positioning himself between her thighs.

She stared up at him in wonder, feeling his hardened member begin to push at her entrance. When he started to enter her, her pleasure had begun to join with a type of painful burning. She was being stretched, and it burned so badly that it made her whimper and squirm uncomfortably.

Itachi was so engrossed in feeling her inner walls surround him, his groans being proof of that, that it wasn't until he was completely sheathed inside of her that he noticed her whimpers of pain and how her face had paled somewhat.

He may not have been familiar with human anatomy, but he didn't think it was that much different from demons. Then again, she had been extremely tight and small, so perhaps the stretching was painful for her.

He did not ask in words, but when Hinata felt him stop and then start whispering kisses against her cheek and neck, she knew that he was inquiring whether or not she was okay.

Despite the pain, she did not want him to stop; especially since the burning was already starting to dull. So, in response to him, she shyly kissed just under his jaw and moved against his lower body.

A growl erupted from him, a sound low in his throat that signaled how much he was currently restraining from doing exactly what his demon blood called out for him to do. But he refused to take her like a normal unrepentant demon would, because she was not _just _anything to him, and he would prove it as such.

He began to thrust, slowly and patiently, refusing to speed up no matter how much it was driving him crazy to be so slow.

The pain lessened with each thrust as it became overridden with the unique pleasure of being joined with her demon lover. When she wanted more of him, her legs came to wrap around him to bring him closer, just as her arms came around his shoulders, her nails gliding down his muscled back.

Releasing something between a groan and growl, Itachi couldn't hold back anymore and immediately began quickening his pace, driving into her harder and faster, leaving her gasping for more. All the same, Hinata kept pulling him closer to her until she found her mouth at his neck, where she began to suck timidly, mimicking Itachi's earlier attentions.

Feeling her tongue move against his skin in such an innocently uncertain nature made his blood boil with animalistic need and release. Lifting off of her just a few inches, his pace quickened even more, and then harder when he felt that she was nearing her release as well.

Again and again…

Closer and closer…

Harder and harder…

His demon instincts began to take over, which resulted in him finding the juncture between her neck and shoulder and biting down, drawing just a few droplets of blood before he immediately began to lick over the wounds in a ritual as old as time.

His bite had made Hinata gasp in surprised pain, but she was so close to her release that the pain simply didn't matter anymore.

She moaned his name and clawed at his back the closer she got to feeling that familiar explosion. Then, finally…it happened. Hinata cried out and arched against him, her body shuddering from the impact of the climax.

Itachi followed shortly after with a growling groan, feeling himself empty inside of her.

The firelight danced on the walls of the cave as the two lovers separated only to lay facing each other, his small bed giving them no other choice but to rest skin against skin.

Pulling Hinata against his front, his arm came to wrap around her territorially, his fingers stroking her back soothingly. Meanwhile, Hinata stroked along his jawline before tracing his sensual lips, a satiated smile reigning dominance over her own lips. Then, she moved to trace over his regal nose and eyebrows and then his eyelids, which were closed due to her touches.

When she had moved back down to his chin, he opened his eyes to gaze at his deity. His expression was not just softened, but unguarded and content as well, a look that Hinata had never seen on him before. He appeared so…peaceful, as if she had unburdened him of something; it made her wonder if she looked the same way.

Though the fire was still burning, it was also beginning to diminish, which was proven when a shiver rippled through Hinata's frame. Without even blinking, Itachi reached for the blanket that had been pushed away during their coupling. He covered them both and held her closer, which, for some reason he didn't know, made her smile.

"Do we leave tomorrow?" she whispered.

He nodded. "Yes,"

"Where to?"

"Wherever you want." He murmured back.

Her smile extended. "Iwa?" She asked, remembering their conversation about the places he had gone and seen.

The corner of his mouth tilted upward in an answer.

"Kiri?" she asked again.

"If you'd like,"

"And Kumo?"

His eyes became half-lidded as he lifted his hand to her face, stroking her cheek with his knuckle. "There, too."

"Hmm," Hinata hummed, pretending to think of other places they could visit.

"Anywhere else?" Itachi questioned with laughing sarcasm.

"I'm thinking," she mumbled, putting a finger to her chin in thought, her lips still twisted into that contently happy smile of hers.

He laughed below his breath before silencing her thinking process with a deep kiss. "Perhaps you should sleep on it."

Her bottom lip formed into a pout. "But I'm not tired yet."

He smirked again, but this time, it was scheming. "I suppose I'm not either. We will just have to remedy that, won't we?"

At that, he positioned himself above her with the pure intention to "pass the time" until they _were _tired.

* * *

"_There is no surprise more magical than the surprise of being loved: It is God's finger on man's shoulder."_

_-Charles Morgan_

* * *

**Long time no see, my loyal readers! I apologize for this being so late (close to six months late, actually), but once again, family and work and school have kept me hostage for a good four-five months. As soon as the semester ended back in December, I started writing this chapter, and got stuck many times, and then there was the holidays to celebrate, so…yeah, I finally finished it. **

**Oh, and I didn't edit this chapter, cause I wanted to start immediately on the next one, so please forgive any mistakes on my part.**

**As for the lemon, I think it's obvious to say that I decided to not do any type of breaking or any way of letting the reader know where it is exactly. And that's because if this was an actual novel I was writing to get published, I would not do any sort of break, so there ya go, and I hope you enjoyed it!**

**I've missed you all so much and hope to hear from you!**

**-Tranquilwriter**


	31. Altered

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Rated M!**

**Note: Back when I was thinking about possibly dividing this story into two parts, this chapter would've been the beginning of the second part, which means we're halfway through, people!**

**AND, because I've been gone for so long, I made this chapter quite long for you, my lovely readers. It's summer break, woo hoo!**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XXX**

**Altered**

* * *

"_The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved."_

_-Victor Hugo_

"_Why did I love her? Because it was her; because it was me."_

_-Montaigne_

* * *

"Gaara," she murmured, her voice strong and unwavering. "I have a favor to ask…and it'll be the last time you have to do this for me."

Hearing Hinata's words made Gaara smile proudly, but it felt bittersweet, because he knew that he was the one who first learned of her relationship with a demon, and he would be the last to see her go and achieve happiness with said demon.

Neji and Sasuke would not be pleased when they would learn of her decision, but by then, Gaara would have already gotten her over the wall and into the safety net of her demon's arms. If they chose to direct their anger at him, then so be it. Gaara didn't care so long as Hinata finally received the happiness that she deserved, and if being with that demon made her happy, then he was more than happy to oblige.

With a fresh burst of energy, Hinata leapt from her bed and hurriedly packed whatever necessities she could fit into her knapsack. Gaara watched her for only a moment before walking steadily toward her balcony, checking for watchers, and then producing the sandy transport that would deliver Hinata from Konoha.

It was a good thing that Gaara convinced Hinata to do this tonight, considering he had a suspicion that Sasuke and Neji would have been guarding her like a couple of hawks the next night when she was supposed to make her final decision.

None of that entered Hinata's mind until she was completely packed and almost ready to depart. She paused in her trek toward the balcony only to turn back around and search for some paper and a writing utensil. It was silent, save for the scratching of pen on paper, as Gaara waited patiently for Hinata to write whatever it was that she was writing.

She finished speedily, having completed a few handwritten pages, and then proceeded to fold them. Upon reaching Gaara, Hinata handed him the letters, which he took without having to think about it. "Could you please deliver these tomorrow?" she asked him.

Gaara nodded and put them away without even looking at them. "Do you have everything you need?"

"Yes," she suddenly breathed inwardly, and then exhaled nervously. "I feel happy for going, but…I should feel horrible for leaving, shouldn't I?"

Gaara didn't answer that, already knowing that she would mourn the loss in time. So, instead, he tried to reassure her with honesty. "We'll be fine, and in time, your friends will understand your decision."

Hinata nodded uncertainly. "I wish I could say goodbye to everyone…especially Temari."

"I'll keep an eye on her for you."

Hinata smiled. "Thank you," she gulped and then looked down at her pendant before suddenly removing it for just a moment. In that short moment, she took a step forward and wrapped her arms tightly around her red-haired friend.

Gaara tensed at the contact at first, and after relaxing, he placed his hands at her back.

Hinata sniffled. "Thank you so much, Gaara…for everything. How can I repay you?"

"You accepted me being a half-demon. There's nothing to repay."

Eyes moistening, Hinata hugged him even tighter. "I'll miss you,"

"You will be missed, as well."

Hinata backed away then to replace the pendant around her neck, allowing Gaara to see how her eyes had overflowed with tears before she gingerly wiped them away. Releasing a watery giggle, Hinata smiled at him. "I'll see you again, right? One day?"

Gaara nodded. "You better go,"

"Right," she nodded as well before letting Gaara's sand transport her over the wall and onward to her destiny.

When he no longer sensed her presence, he retracted the sand back to him, and then turned to face her bedroom, which seemed so empty, despite her furniture and leftover belongings.

Gaara closed his eyes, taking to memory this moment, this parting of friends.

He chose to relish the moment…and most importantly…

Never forget.

* * *

Hinata woke up the following morning feeling pleasantly sore and satisfied. When she thought about why she felt that way and thought back to the many ways that she and Itachi had made love…she blushed heavily, but smiled nonetheless.

She was starting to stretch, but stopped when Itachi's arm tightened around her, keeping her in place. Her chest was matched skin against skin with his chest, and one of her legs had somehow hooked around one of his own; they must have looked so entangled.

Opening her eyes and blinking until they were cleared of sleep, Hinata gazed at Itachi's face that was so near hers, except unlike her, he was still very much asleep. His breathing was deep and rhythmic and his face lacked every emotion besides restfulness. She didn't think she would ever tire of waking up in his arms, or watching how peaceful he looked when he slept.

Although…at the moment, she really needed to find a bathroom, or rather, somewhere to relieve herself.

As gently as she could, she released herself from his grip and tiptoed around the cave, searching for her gown. Not finding it, she frowned and then settled for using Itachi's cape, wrapping it tightly around her and then searching outside for an opportune spot. It was at that time that she realized how much she needed to clean herself, or more specifically, between her legs, where the dried blood was.

Minutes later, she had found a small stream of water not too far from the cave, and washed the parts of herself that needed it the most, all the while enjoying the morning sounds of the forest.

Meanwhile, Itachi awoke and felt surprised that he did not awaken when Hinata left. He supposed that it was because even when he was asleep, he could still sense that she was close by and unharmed.

It was strange this new connection that he had with her. The pendant might have formed a connection between them, but the previous night's activities had enhanced that connection tenfold. It came to the point where he felt that he could sense her whereabouts without even trying, and not just that, he also felt bonded to her, like their souls had connected or joined, because of what he had done. It reminded him that he would have to talk to her about that.

While she was gone, he dressed himself in only pants and started on rekindling the fire before looking for any leftover meat. He could always eat the meat raw, but now that he had Hinata with him, he tried to remember if humans could only eat the meat when it was cooked. He remembered hearing about it somewhere, but he couldn't be sure until Hinata returned. Was raw meat poisonous to humans or something?

After finding the meat that he had packaged away, the smell of animal blood lifted to his nostrils, invoking his hunger, but he stopped after realizing that it wasn't just the animal's blood he smelled. He smelled other blood, too…human blood…Hinata's maybe?

Abandoning the meat for a moment, he followed the scent trail, which led him to his bed, and after lifting the covers, he found the source. A few spots of blood stained the sheet, where Hinata had laid, and judging by the position…

His jaw clenched as a thought passed through his mind that…he had hurt her somehow…made her bleed. Of course, he had also bitten into her neck and drew a little blood, but his saliva had quickly healed that wound, and the blood had only gone as far as his tongue. So this other blood really meant that he had hurt her.

_Demons and humans_—he didn't dare finish the thought. Instead, he chose to wait for her to return.

When she did, his eyes flashed up to meet hers, and seeing her only wearing his cloak, knowing that she was completely naked underneath, made his blood boil with familiar desire. Would he ever be able to look at her again without wanting to bed her?

Seeing his intense gaze made Hinata blush, even though she inwardly reprimanded herself for doing so. After all, he had seen her in the most intimate of ways, so why was she still feeling embarrassed? She ended up gulping and clearing her throat before speaking. "Good morning,"

Itachi skipped past all the pleasantries and went straight to the point. "You were bleeding."

Her head tilted slightly and her brows furrowed as she tried to understand what he was really asking. And then, she understood, which only made her blush again. "Oh, um…I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" he stood and neared her, motioning over to the bed. "I was the cause of it, was I not?"

"Well," she mumbled, seeing the spots of blood that had obviously alerted him to the "problem". "It's not your fault, it's just…" she shrugged, laughing nervously. "It's normal,"

"Normal how?" he narrowed his eyes, trying to not reveal his confusion.

Hinata cleared her throat again, and then suddenly found herself reverting back to an old habit of tapping her forefingers together. "Um, you see, it's…it only happens the first time."

When he didn't say anything and only stared, his mind puzzling to figure out what she was saying, Hinata tried to elaborate.

"It's nothing bad, it's just that…women tend to bleed the first time they, uh…" she blushed, alerting him to the fact that she was talking about her first time having sex. "But it really only happens the first time, so…" she bit her lip, thinking. "I'm guessing that demons aren't like that?"

"Not that I know of." His face seemed somewhat scrunched at the explanation of "female parts" that she was giving him.

Seeing his expression, Hinata bit down on her lip to keep from laughing, since Itachi had proven that it didn't matter whether the male was demon or human, the male species altogether did not like discussing the intricacies of being female.

To settle his nerves, she bravely walked up to him and kissed his cheek lovingly. "I'm fine, don't worry. I'll clean those," she spoke, referring to the bedding before bundling the sheets into her arms and grabbing some soap from her knapsack.

Itachi couldn't keep his eyes off of her the entire time she was walking around his cave, and he couldn't help but watch mesmerized at the curves of her body.

"Oh!" she suddenly exclaimed, alerting his attention back to the present. She turned around, holding a white garment while wearing a pleased smile. "I was looking for this," she mumbled, revealing the garment to be her gown, which she added to her pile of what needed to be cleaned. "I'm going to take these down to the stream, okay?"

Itachi almost didn't reply for a moment. "No," he intercepted her plan. "There's another place we can go for that."

"You'll come with me?" she asked, still smiling.

He smirked in answer and left the cave with her following closely behind. "We'll need to leave the area in a few hours," he warned her.

Hinata nodded, "Okay. Where will we go?"

"Where do you want to go?"

Her face puckered in thought. "Iwa?"

He couldn't suppress another smirk of amusement. "Iwa, it is."

Hinata laughed quietly, while trying to match his strides so that she could walk next to him. During which, she couldn't help wondering about her temple family and how they were doing. Had they discovered that she was no longer there? She supposed that by the time breakfast rolled around, someone would notice her absence.

It made her heart clench at knowing how worried it would make Temari, and perhaps a few others. _I'm sorry, Temari…_

* * *

Ino had a bad feeling the moment she woke up that morning. Despite that Naruto was sleeping soundly right next to her, and that the sun was shining and the birds were singing, and she could distinctly hear someone's laughter down the hall, something didn't seem right. It was a strange feeling, like one of foreboding, and she did not like it whatsoever.

She simply could not shake the feeling that something was either wrong, or about to be wrong.

So, she leaned over and shook Naruto, disrupting his snoring, only to say, "I'll meet you at breakfast, okay?"

Still mostly asleep, Naruto mumbled something that sounded like an "okay" and a "love you" before rolling over to fall back asleep.

Frowning, she shook him again. "Don't sleep in too long or you'll miss breakfast."

Her only reply was a snore, which made her smile tenderly while shaking her head. Getting off her bed, Ino quickly dressed and left her bedroom, only to discover that the laughter she had heard earlier was actually Sakura, who seemed to be laughing at something that Lee had said.

Seeing Ino, Sakura waved. "Morning, Ino!"

"Hey, Sakura," she started to walk over toward them. "What are you doing up so early?"

The pink-haired girl shrugged. "No reason."

Ino raised a brow in suspicion before crossing her arms over her chest. "Uh huh,"

Sakura blushed before getting angry. "Oh, don't you dare give me that look! I heard you and Naruto last night!"

Ino scoffed. "Trust me, the only thing you heard was Naruto snoring."

Sakura laughed. "I can't decide which one's worse."

Twisting a finger in her ear, Ino winced. "Believe me, one is definitely worse," Then, she paused and looked at Lee, who had been standing there just listening. "Hey, Lee?"

"Yes, Ino, best friend of my dearest blossom?"

Repressing the urge to laugh at his expense, she chose to smirk instead. "Would you mind making sure that Naruto gets to breakfast on time?"

"I am on it!" he saluted before giving Sakura a quick kiss and then running down the hallway, obviously shooting for Naruto's bedroom.

That is, until Ino yelled out to him, "He's in my room!"

"Oh, yes, of course!" he hollered back, changing his direction.

Laughing softly, Sakura turned to walk down the opposite end with Ino walking next to her. "Goddess, I love that man."

Ino rolled her eyes. "I do not understand your taste in men."

"Hey," Sakura pointed a finger at her best friend, her voice leaking irritation. "Lee may not be as attractive as Sasuke, but he more than makes up for it in other ways."

Not bothering to mask her disgust, Ino replied. "I'll take your word for it."

Seeing Ino's look of disgust only piqued Sakura's irritation even more. "At least I'm not the one who ended up with the blonde idiot."

"Knock it off!" Ino argued back. "That's _my _blonde idiot you're talking about."

A new voice entered the conversation, coming from ahead of them. "I thought that was you guys,"

"Tenten," Sakura acknowledged.

The brunette approached them, placing a finger near her mouth in thought. "All I could hear from down the hall was bickering, so I thought to myself, 'who could that be?', and then it hit me," she snapped her fingers. "Ino and Sakura."

Sakura shrugged innocently. "Could've been worse."

"You're right," Tenten smiled slyly. "It could've been Ino and Naruto."

"Oh, shut up," Ino muttered, sticking her tongue out at the older girl, making Tenten and Sakura laugh.

Sakura turned to Tenten after the laughter died down. "Where's Kankuro?"

"He already headed to breakfast with Kiba, Shino, and Choji, which is exactly where I'm heading."

"We'll come with you," Ino volunteered. "And then we should hit the baths later tonight."

"I'm up for that," Tenten agreed. "Should I tell Hinata and Temari?"

"Why?" Ino frowned.

"Ino," Sakura reprimanded.

"What?" she retorted just as vehemently. "Oh come on, we all know that they wouldn't do the same for us. Well, Hinata might, but…let's face it, Temari and Hinata have been in their own little group since day one, just as we've been forced to get into _our _own little group."

"Point taken," Sakura murmured.

Tenten smiled, but it was half-hearted. "Come on, guys, it's not really like that. Temari and Hinata are just…you know, Temari and Hinata, that's all."

"Sure," Ino muttered. "Whatever."

It was silent for only a second before the three girls began talking again, chattering loudly as they walked through the halls toward breakfast. Only Ino seemed to take notice at how empty the hallways felt, despite it not being true.

For instance, she had already passed Neji leaving his bedroom, looking no more stoic than usual, and then she saw Sasuke later as he was turning into the dining room. Upon entering the room, Tenten went to her spot by Kankuro, and that's when Ino saw that Gaara and Temari were already seated and eating—nothing unusual there.

As Ino was taking her seat, she was pleasantly surprised to see that Lee had done his job well, since Naruto was already at the table, though he looked a little sleepy-eyed. Down the table, the telepathic deity saw the whole security force was already seated and arguing amidst their eating, minus Sasuke, who seemed to keep most of his arguments reserved for Naruto.

She couldn't figure out why this bad feeling of hers kept persisting when nothing was wrong and nothing seemed out of place. The only exception was that Neji and Hinata hadn't arrived yet, which could've had multiple explanations. One, Hinata might have overslept again, or two, she might have gotten sick, or three, Neji and her were fighting again.

Hinata and Neji may not have noticed, but Ino and many others had definitely taken notice of the cold war that seemed to exist between the two Hyugas lately. Ino was curious for the reason, but since she couldn't read their minds due to the mental blockades that everyone seemed to utilize, she could only assume that it was because of the rumored relationship between Hinata and Sasuke.

It wasn't exactly a secret that Neji always had a thing for Hinata, so it surprised no one when he didn't seem too happy to find out that Sasuke had managed to snag the deity right from under the guardian's nose. Although…

Ino liked to think that she knew enough about being in love to be able to recognize the feeling in someone else. So, it bothered her whenever she saw Sasuke and Hinata, because they didn't _seem _like a couple at all. In fact, the most emotion shared between the two had to be friendship, because anything more just didn't make sense.

Ino's thoughts came to an abrupt halt when she happened to glance over at the entrance to the dining room, only to see Neji standing there solo. That wouldn't have mattered if Ino hadn't seen the enraged look on the guardian's face. She straightened even more when she noticed his fists clenched tightly at his sides, and waves of ferocity practically oozing off of him, and all of it seemed to be directed at Gaara, for some reason.

Gaara had noticed and turned his head to stare at the Hyuga, his expression as blank as a slate. Seeing her brother's expression made Temari look over, too, which only drew the attention of Kankuro and Tenten, and then Sakura and Lee.

Ino nudged Naruto, interrupting his conversation with Sasuke. "Naruto, look," she urged, not bothering to tear her gaze away to see if he was paying attention.

She didn't need to, because she heard Naruto's seat move back just slightly as if he was preparing to get up.

"What's going on?" he asked no one in particular, his brow lowering, since it didn't take a genius to feel the rising tension between Neji and Gaara.

Sasuke noticed and immediately stood, seeing something about the situation that no one else seemed to understand. At once, he trudged over until he was standing near Gaara, his stare alternating between the two.

Temari was the first to break the silence, her tone emanating annoyance. "What's crawled up your ass, Neji? And where's Hina?"

"Yes," he answered, never tearing his gaze from Gaara. "Where is she, Gaara?"

Sasuke's eyes widened just slightly as he, too, turned to stare fully at the redhead. "What did you do?"

Temari stiffened at practically _feeling _the heat of hatred broiling among the three men. "What's going on, Gaara?"

But Gaara remained placid and silent.

It was Kankuro who stood, feeling the need to protect to his little brother, half-demon or not. "Hey, back off, Hyuga. If Gaara did something then you should try talking to him first, instead of looking at him like you want him dead."

"If he did what I think he did," Neji responded, his voice becoming as dangerous as a sharpened dagger. "Then I do want him dead."

Tenten stood, grasping onto Kankuro's arm. "_What _is wrong with you three? If any of the adults come in here and see this—"

Neji interrupted her by pointing at the exit to the dining room, his gaze never once leaving Gaara's implacable expression. "Let's go," he demanded, already turning on his heel to leave.

Without so much as a sigh, Gaara stood and followed the Hyuga. Sasuke didn't pause to do the same until all three boys had left the room, leaving a group of bewildered young adults in their wake.

Ino summed it all up with only a few words. "What the _hell _was that about?"

Temari began to slowly stand, her wide-eyed gaze locked on where the three men had just departed. It worried her, seeing Neji so furious, and then seeing it directed at her brother, and somehow involving Sasuke could only tell her one thing. It was about Hinata—it had to be. If that was the case, then Temari could only worry about the same question that Neji had asked. _Where is Hina?_

Pushing her chair away with urgency, Temari departed the room as well, yearning to discover what was going on and how much it might have involved her best friend.

* * *

Locking the roof door behind him, Sasuke approached Neji and Gaara, who stood across from each other, one glaring heatedly, the other appearing statuesque. When Sasuke joined them, the three men seemed to form a triangle of wills.

Sasuke glanced at Gaara first, only to determine that his answers would come quicker from Neji, so he turned his black-eyed gaze to him instead. "She's gone, isn't she?"

For the first time, Neji tore his gaze from the redhead and stared at Sasuke. "When I went to get her for breakfast, she wasn't there. As further proof, some of her clothes and belongings are missing."

"And you think he had something to do with this?" Sasuke asked, nodding his head toward Gaara.

Neji scowled. "Who else? If Hinata had been telling the truth, then her demon wasn't supposed to come until tonight, and the only other way for her to get over that wall, _according to her_, was through _Gaara_."

Sasuke was just about to demand an answer from Gaara, but he didn't have to.

"I helped her leave." Gaara answered simply.

Neji shook his head, running an agitated hand through his hair, and then laughed grimly. "You just let her go? Do you even care about her at all?"

Gaara lifted his deadpan gaze to the guardian, his expression almost filled with pity. "She wouldn't have been happy if she stayed."

"You don't know that." Neji was pacing in his anger, most of it directed at himself for feeling like he had failed his deity, and he had officially lost in the battle for her affections. He had lost to a demon…He had lost to his enemy.

Sasuke was quiet with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes focused dazedly onto nothing. Somehow, he had known what she would eventually choose, but it wasn't until that moment that he realized that he had indeed _hoped _that she would choose otherwise. No matter what he or Neji had said, it apparently wasn't enough to deter her from leaving with that monster…the monster she loved.

Still pacing, Neji began to talk aloud of what he was already planning. "If she left last night, then she can't have gone too far. So, if we leave now, we can catch her."

"No," Gaara said firmly.

Neji stopped and glared at Gaara, his tone becoming threatening. "Then you can stay. You've already marked her for death, so I'd hate to see how much more you can destroy her life."

A tensing of the muscles was the only warning that Gaara gave before his sand whipped out and wrapped around Neji's throat, constricting quicker than a snake. Neji almost toppled backward at the force of the impact, but ended up standing straight again only to grip at the sand to pull it away. The more it constricted, the more it cut off his air supply to where he couldn't even cough.

Sasuke didn't move or say anything, though he debated whether or not he should.

"I won't kill you," Gaara warned the dark-haired guardian. "But if you insinuate that again, I will."

With that, the sand unwound itself from his neck, resulting in Neji collapsing on his hands and knees, coughing and sucking in as much air as he could. Even when he had regained his breath, he remained on the ground, his hands clenching onto the gravel, his knuckles whitening.

Looking at Neji's desperately pitiful form that only seemed to emanate how much of a failure he felt he was, Sasuke could relate, but he had to stop Neji's train of thoughts. "Even if we did go after her, Itachi would not allow us to take her away. He would kill us without even thinking about it first."

Neji closed his eyes and lowered his head.

Gaara narrowed his gaze at Neji. "Hinata did not want us to follow her, and you can see that for yourself," At that, he removed two folded letters and extended one to Neji and then tossed the other to Sasuke before turning on his heel and walking back towards the roof door.

He was halfway down the steps when he ran into Temari, who had been rushing up to find them. Upon seeing her brother, Temari gripped his arm. "Gaara, what's going on? I can't find Hina anywhere, and I know that you know something!"

"Sorry," he muttered. "I don't."

"Gaara!"

But he had already left her sight, breathing another apology under his breath.

* * *

"Wow," Hinata gasped at the sight of the huge waterfall that Itachi had led her to. She had never seen a waterfall before, and it was more beautiful than she could have ever imagined. The waterfall itself landed into a large pool of water that seemed shallow rather than deep, and with the sun shining brightly, the water sparkled.

She figured that as soon as she was done washing the sheet and gown, she was going to bathe herself, and perhaps swim around a little bit, knowing she could not resist such a glorious place.

Itachi watched the way her face brightened in excitement, and it made him smirk in victory. Then it seemed that once she had taken it all in, she rushed into washing the garments, her body hunched at the edge of the pool.

It wasn't until she looked over and smiled at him thankfully that he walked over to lounge against a nearby tree. After a while of listening to the sounds of the garments being washed and Hinata's quiet humming, Itachi closed his eyes and proceeded to doze.

Meanwhile, Hinata finished washing and found a nearby tree branch that extended out far enough for her to hang her gown and the sheet upon to dry. Not even a second passed by before she had removed Itachi's cloak from around her and ran nakedly headlong into the pool of water.

The splash made Itachi's eyes open alertly, and for a second, he could not see Hinata, though he sensed her. Then, in the middle of the pool, her head resurfaced, and when she stood, the water only came to just below her breasts. She laughed carelessly, sweeping her wet hair over one shoulder, revealing a mark on her neck that set Itachi's blood ablaze. It was his mark, though he doubted she even knew about its presence.

In fact, she probably forgot all about that little bite from the previous night, not knowing what had been left in its place. He would definitely have to talk to her about that.

Still laughing in complete happiness, Hinata turned to look at her demon. "I love this place!"

Itachi couldn't stop the soft smile from enlightening his features as he watched her dive back into the water, playing as if she were a child again. Although, her naked body contradicted any notions of her being a child, and that aroused him to the point of shedding his clothes and joining her in the water.

Resurfacing yet again, Hinata took a breather and looked back to find Itachi, but her smile disappeared when she saw that he was no longer sitting against the tree. In fact, she couldn't see him anywhere. "Itachi?" she worriedly called out for him.

Suddenly, she screamed when an arm shot out to wrap around her middle, pulling her back against a hard surface. Hearing a familiar laugh, Hinata turned around quickly to face the origin. "You scared me,"

He laughed quietly again, pulling her naked body against his own. "I know,"

She shook her head at him and was about to swim out of his grasp, but his hold tightened, making her turn back to him. "Aren't you going to bathe?" she asked.

"After,"

"After what?"

In answer, his lips came down to envelop her own in a hungry kiss. "This,"

His hands fell to rest on her hips, urging her against him, expressing his need for her through action alone. Melting under his touches, Hinata molded against him, reciprocating his kiss, her fingers stroking over every inch of skin that was in her reach.

In an instant, he had settled his hands just underneath her bottom, lifting her in the water until her legs wrapped around his waist, eliciting a sound of surprise from her before he had claimed her lips again.

He entered her fluidly, and relished in her moan that sounded deep in her throat. Just hearing it made him groan as well, and wonder if he would ever get enough of this woman.

Together, they embarked on an age-old rhythm, so instinctual that it was carried out without thought, only feeling.

He swallowed her moans, and she gripped onto him, digging her nails into his shoulders while licking the water droplets from his neck.

When the pressure had begun to build, her head tilted back in ecstasy, allowing him to locate the mark he had left on her neck and encompass it with his mouth.

Water lapped against their bodies, but could not seem to invade where their bodies united.

Every kiss was an eternity…

Every thrust was a jolt of lightning…

Breathing was labored…

His breath against her neck, her breath against his ear…

Names were murmured in ecstasy, and muscles were tensed and stretched…

As time passed and their rhythm became quicker and quicker, Hinata began to plead with him to give her what she needed. So, he licked and sucked at the mark, which made Hinata gasp in surprise at the immense amount of pleasure that coursed through her veins, a pleasure she never knew existed.

While she shuddered and shivered at her release, Itachi achieved his own, the only indication being a low growl and his arms tightening around her body.

Coming off of the high and catching their breath, they simply held onto each other until Itachi finally released her from the prison of his grasp. Still breathing heavily, he gazed at her half-lidded expression, her lips satisfyingly swollen from his kisses. "Now, we can bathe."

Hinata smiled lazily, kissing him gently. "I love you,"

"Mm," he agreed.

* * *

In the aftermath of breakfast, Ino couldn't resist exploring into whatever was happening. From what she had gathered so far, Hinata was nowhere to be found and, for some reason, Neji had blamed Gaara for that. Gaara, Neji, and Sasuke had been close with Hinata; everyone had noticed that. While Neji's undying love for Hinata had been obvious, Gaara and Sasuke's reasons for being around Hinata were less romantic. In fact, they had surrounded her like older brothers protecting a younger sister.

Temari was the same way, having fallen into an older sister role with Hinata from the beginning. It made Ino wonder why Hinata seemed to invoke those around her to be so protective; it's not like she was always in danger. That is, until she had up and disappeared.

The adults were notified, of course, and Tsunade ordered a full search of the entire temple, and when no results had yielded from that, she alerted Lord Sarutobi. Losing a deity was unthinkable and downright baffling. So, like Tsunade, Lord Sarutobi ordered a thorough search of the entire village to be done, but it didn't take long for his team to report back that they had found absolutely no missing deity. The village leader simply told them to search again.

It seemed that Konoha was suddenly on high alert. During a meeting between the matriarch, patriarch, the village leader and his protégé, the four discussed the issue at hand.

"We had the security force guarding the temple the entire night," Lord Jiraiya stated. "And there are guards at every entryway and exit of that building all day long. If she had left or been kidnapped, someone would've seen."

"Even _if _she had somehow gotten past those guards," Sarutobi added. "I have other guards posted all over the village, especially at the main gate. I agree, Jiraiya, she had to have been seen by someone."

Yukio leaned forward in his chair. "I've already questioned all the guards that had been on duty, and they all report that there was nothing amiss the entire night."

Tsunade sighed. "That's pretty much our results, as well, though I still need to question the kids…not that I think they had anything to do with it, of course."

"Is it possible that a demon could have had something to do with this?" Yukio questioned, his expression quickly forming into a scowl of hatred.

"How?" Tsunade retorted back. "Demons can't get through that barrier. Either she was kidnapped by another human, or she left voluntarily. Whatever the case, we're still at square one, because it seems that she simply disappeared into thin air."

Sarutobi nodded. "Go interrogate the kids, and if that fails…" he shook his head in dejection. "I simply don't know…"

Back at the temple, the atmosphere had become heavier with tension, and quiet with grief and confusion. Though Ino could not manage to break into anyone's mind, she was still able to notice how much pain they were in, despite how some managed to hide it better than others.

Naruto had been the one to find Gaara sitting on the roof a couple hours after breakfast had ended. The redhead seemed to be in a state of silence, and no matter what Naruto said or asked, Gaara remained motionless, staring out blankly at the expanse of forest just beyond the Konoha walls.

Then there was Sasuke, who could be found out in the courtyard, training as if it were any normal day. But if anyone were to look closely, they would see a fresh determination spark inside of him and becoming visible in his black eyes. He had to get stronger, and time was not on his side.

At some point, Neji had locked himself in his room, not answering to anyone's calls from outside the door. Despite that, Lee persisted in knocking harshly against his friend's door while Sakura stood off to the side, watching the display with sadness brewing in her green eyes.

"Neji! You must come out!" Lee yelled. "Or let me in so that I can talk to you!"

"Lee," Sakura rested her hand on his arm, restricting him from knocking again. Her brows were furrowed and the sides of her mouth were turned downward. "Let's go,"

"I cannot," he replied, fisting his hand in resolve. "I am Neji's friend, and he needs me in this time of grief—"

"Lee!" she persisted. "What if I had gone missing?"

"I would not let that happen."

"And I'm sure Neji thought the same way." She watched as his face lowered in understanding. "You see? This is probably hurting Neji more than anyone, so we should leave him alone for a while, okay?"

"But…" he seemed tempted to argue, but it was half-hearted.

"We'll check on him later, I promise." She pulled at his hand, trying to lead him away.

"Very well," Lee nodded in assent and allowed his love to take him away from his friend's bedroom door.

Inside, Neji sat in the darkest corner of his room, back to the wall, knees bent upward, and head buried in his arms. In one hand, he loosely clutched the open letter from his deity. After having read it, he had become so distraught that the only movement he could manage to make was loosening his fingers so that the letter could float to the ground. And all he could manage to say over and over was, "Damn it…damn it, damn it, damn it!"

When the letter finally landed on the ground, only a portion of it displayed Hinata's handwriting, simply saying…

_Neji,_

_Please forgive me, but I decided to leave with Itachi. Do not worry about me, because I'll be safe and unharmed with him, but know that I did not do this to hurt you or anyone. Please do not be angry, especially at yourself, since you did nothing wrong. You've always been a best friend to me, and the best guardian ever._

_Thank you for being my first friend and guardian, and for being there for me whenever I needed you. I'll never forget you, and you'll always hold a special place in my heart. I'll always remember when we were young, and how you used to always—  
_

Peeking over the rim of his arm, Neji watched as a light breeze from the balcony carried the letter across the floor, the paper fluttering gently. Reaching out a hand to catch it, he enfolded the letter in his grasp, cradling it for a moment before tightening his grip, which effectively crushed it, the same way he wished that he could crush his own feelings.

* * *

An hour later, Tsunade sent the caretakers and masters to retrieve all the young adults and bring them into the waiting area just outside of the matriarch's office. None of them were told why, but they already knew that it had to be about Hinata, a subject that almost all of them seemed to be fretting about.

Ino was the last to arrive, and in doing so, was able to see the awkward silence among the group as if it was visible. Her eyes first landed on Sasuke, who had his back toward her while having a whispered discussion with Kakashi. Gaara was leaning against the wall nearest the office door, and Choji, Kiba, and Shino took up positions near the windows at the back of the room, no one saying anything.

On one couch sat Temari, with Shikamaru on her left and Kankuro flanking her right with Tenten seated next to him. Temari sat very still, staring dazedly at the floor, appearing as if she wasn't really present, and yet her thoughts were running at much higher speeds, her mind working to figure out where her best friend was and how she could be retrieved. Inwardly, she was praying and hoping that Hinata was at least safe, but at the same time, she knew that if Hinata was outside the village walls, she was most definitely _not _safe.

Shikamaru entwined his hand with Temari's in a form of comfort before exchanging a glance with an equally worried Kankuro. Kankuro didn't like seeing his strong-minded sister in such a state of agonized worry. Hinata had always been a sweet girl, never the type to cause harm, and while Kankuro had never really known her, he did know how much she meant to his sister, and even to his little brother.

Hinata had been the little sister that Temari never knew she wanted until the two had met. They had seemed inseparable since then, so Kankuro couldn't imagine how Temari must have felt at the moment. Although, he supposed that she must feel what he would feel if a sibling had gone missing—utter devastation. With a sigh, Kankuro turned to Tenten, and seeing her small smile of comfort, he returned it with a kiss to her forehead.

Ino's eyes then trailed over to Neji, who seemed just as out of it as Temari, though his balled fists and arms corded with tension belied a sense of barely restrained anger. Perhaps it was the same anger that she had witnessed that morning at breakfast. Either way, it worried her, since an angry Neji could easily be a loose cannon, exploding without warning. It was, however, relieving to see Lee standing right next to Neji, acting as a bodyguard and friend to the lonesome Hyuga.

Standing next to Lee was Sakura, but she was busy talking with Naruto, the two speaking in frustrated whispers. As it had been the majority of the day, Naruto had obtained a mask of serious resolution, not smiling since the early morning. It didn't take much for Ino to know that Hinata's missing presence had greatly concerned Naruto, simply because he considered her a friend, a member of his family. The two may not have been very close at all, but she was still important to him, someone to protect, so in a way, he felt as if he had failed, too.

It broke Ino's heart to see him so downcast, and in so much pain because he knew how much his best friend and Neji and Gaara and Temari were all hurting. With a sigh, Ino began to walk toward him, and his eyes locked on hers before she had even reached him. Those blue eyes she loved so dearly began to soften at the sight of her and his hand outstretched toward her, to which she joined her hand with his.

When she was in his arms, Naruto turned his full attention to her as if she was all he could see. "Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

She nodded with a small smile before placing her palm against his cheek. "Are you?"

Naruto didn't answer; he simply just rested his forehead against hers, both of them closing their eyes. For a second, Naruto opened his mind to her, allowing her to read his emotions, but nothing deeper. The last time he had done that was when he confessed his love to her, and it still took her breath away every time. But the moment wouldn't last.

Tsunade and Jiraiya exited her office and stood at the doorway to address the room. The matriarch began, "Lord Sarutobi has asked that we question each one of you. We are not accusing you of knowing anything about Hinata's disappearance; we simply need to have as much information as possible."

Jiraiya cleared his throat before talking. "We'll talk to you one-by-one. As soon as we're done talking to you, you'll be free to leave back to your room, or training, or wherever. Understood?" At seeing most of their nods, Jiraiya turned to Tsunade.

Inhaling deeply, the matriarch settled her gaze on the first to be questioned. "Ino, come with us."

Sharing a quick glance with Naruto, Ino followed the matriarch and patriarch into their office, the door being closed behind her.

"Have a seat, Ino," Tsunade waved to the chair before sitting down in her own.

Once Ino sat down, she stared at the two in waiting silence.

Tsunade crossed her hands in front of her before beginning. "We're going to be very direct about this. So…when was the last time you saw Hinata?"

"Last night at dinner."

"How did she appear?"

"Fine, I guess." Ino shrugged. "She was smiling and laughing, so…I guess she was happy."

"In your honest opinion," Jiraiya interjected. "do you think Hinata's the type to run away?"

Ino furrowed her brows in thought. "I may not have known Hinata as well as Temari or Neji, but…no, I don't think she would ever run away for any reason. Everything and everyone she knew was here, right? Why would she want to run away?"

"We don't know," Tsunade rubbed her brow. "But we're trying to consider all the options."

"What's the other option?"

"There's a possibility that she could've been kidnapped."

Ino's eyes widened. She and the others had talked about that being the reason why she disappeared. "By a demon?"

Jiraiya smiled unhappily. "As easy as it would be to believe that, it's impossible so long as we have that barrier."

"So, it had to be a human?" Ino questioned, not really expecting an answer.

After a pause, Tsunade asked, "You don't know anything, then?"

Ino shook her head.

"In that case, we could use your help."

"With what?"

"We'd like you to stay in here while we question everyone. Perhaps try to get a read off of them."

"But they all know how to block me out."

"I know," Tsunade smiled. "We're not forcing anyone to have all their secrets out in the open. Just try to pick up on what you can without making them feel like they're being cornered."

"I can do that."

"Alright, then, Jiraiya? Bring in the next one."

* * *

The sun's warmth felt wonderful that afternoon as Hinata and Itachi laid back on a rock that stretched just over the waterfall's little pond. Having had their moment together before bathing, they eventually settled upon the rock, lounging lazily. The upper part of Hinata's body rested on his bare chest, her fingers tracing unknown shapes upon his skin. Meanwhile, Itachi had his arm wrapped around her naked body with a territorial protectiveness, though the way his thumb brushed gently against her skin showed something much more tender and pure.

Eyes half-lidded, Hinata began to doze with the sun providing the warmth of a blanket and Itachi's heartbeat providing a lullaby. But, then, he moved, making her turn her face upward so that she could stare into his red eyes.

"We need to leave for Iwa." He murmured, as if he himself was reluctant to break their peaceful moment.

"Now?"

"After we pack."

Sitting up partway, Hinata leaned over him, a sudden smile dancing upon her lips. She moved her fingers to stroke his cheek, something she barely dared to do not weeks before. As she leaned down to press her lips against his, she also realized that she had never felt as carefree around Itachi before, or anyone for that matter. Never before had she felt so much like herself and never before had she felt so fearless to say whatever was on her mind at the moment than now.

She knew that she could just as freely argue with Itachi as she could make love with him. It was a peaceful and relieving feeling, one that made her feel connected to him in ways she couldn't understand.

Itachi deepened the kiss before releasing her, though he was highly tempted to flip her over and—but, he didn't. Instead, he helped her up before dressing himself. "Do you know how to get back?"

"I remember," she replied, still smiling. "Why?"

"I'll start packing, while you dress and finish washing the…" he trailed off after catching sight of her naked form in the sunlight, as if he was seeing it for the first time all over again. He watched, fascinated, at how she dressed back into her gown, and apparently his pause didn't go unnoticed.

Hinata stared at him, her eyes dancing happily. "The sheets?"

Just seeing her with clothes on again aggravated him, which only made his demon blood boil, and his fingers itch to remove them. He began to take a step toward her, but stopped himself. "Don't take too long." With that, he turned to head back to the cave.

Despite herself, Hinata's face had heated at his intense stare, one she was beginning to recognize as carnal need. Shaking herself, she finished dressing and proceeded to make sure that the sheets were dry.

Minutes passed as she gathered the bedding, but she had a feeling that Itachi was already almost done, and he had more to do than she did. Just the thought of him made her smile uncontrollably.

Just as quickly, however, her smile disappeared when she heard quiet footsteps not too far behind her, which was odd since Itachi made it seem as if it was perfectly safe for her, and those footsteps definitely did not belong to Itachi. She wasn't sure how she knew that, but that didn't concern her at the moment.

Her movements slowed and her heartbeat quickened. Inwardly, she spoke Itachi's name, as if she could summon him just by thinking it. She wanted to call for help, because she knew it was a demon, and she knew she wasn't ready to fight against a demon just yet.

But did she have a choice? At least, until Itachi miraculously came to save her, like he so often did?

Not at the moment, no. So, she left the sheets back on the branch, and replayed in her mind all those training sessions with Sasuke. _Whatever demon this is, I hope it's not as fast as Sasuke._

In half a breath, she made up her mind and turned toward the noise at the same time the figure entered the area, becoming visible to her eye. Her body had already taken the beginning form of her fighting style, but she froze, because just the sight of him made her eyes widen in familiarity. "You,"

"Easy there, deity," the blue shark demon smiled toothily from his position, hands raised in peace. "I came to see the Uchiha."

"I know you…" she whispered, brows furrowed, and body tensed with caution.

"You're that little deity I was going to make a meal of all those years ago." He laughed. "Look at you, all grown up."

"I remember you," Hinata stared at him warily. "You hurt my wolf and broke my harp."

He burst out laughing again before stroking his chin in remembrance. "What a fond memory that was…" Then, he looked at her again contemplatively before extending out his hand. "I don't think we ever properly met. I'm Kisame."

Hinata didn't move or say anything; she just continued to stare at him uncertainly.

Kisame smiled, showing his sharp teeth. "I'm not going to hurt you. Trust me, the last thing I want to deal with is a pissed off Uchiha."

Hinata gulped before relaxing her fighting position and meeting him across the distance to shake his hand. "I'm Hinata." She quickly took her hand back after feeling the strange scale-like texture of his hand. "You said you came to see Itachi?" she watched his head incline in answer. "How did you know he was here?"

"I followed his scent, but instead of finding him, I found you." His yellow eyes stared at her intensely, as if puzzling over something completely new. He sniffed the air and then began to speak. "He may not be here, but his scent is. You're pretty much drowning in it."

"Well," she blushed, thinking that he meant because they had become intimate, but could he really be able to tell that?

Kisame's gaze then turned to her neck, where his eyes became transfixed by something. "Unbelievable…I can't believe Itachi really did that…"

"Did what?" Hinata's hand flew up to her neck, where he had been looking. "What did he do?"

"You don't know?" Kisame asked in shock.

"Know what?" she asked, starting to panic. "Is it bad?"

He laughed. "Not really. It's just…rare. In fact, this is my first time seeing one."

"Seeing one what?" Hinata persisted.

The shark demon opened his mouth to reply, but didn't get to do so.

"Kisame." Itachi's voice cut through the conversation, his tone expressing such a threat that it made Kisame back far away, putting his hands up in surrender yet again.

"I came looking for you, but instead found your…" Kisame's mouth formed into an 'm' at first before seemingly changing his mind. "Your deity."

Walking like a predator, Itachi placed himself somewhat in front of Hinata, blocking her from the other demon's view. "Why?"

"I was passing through and happened to sense you nearby, so I thought I'd stop in for a moment and see what you were up to on your little vacation." Kisame finally lowered his upraised hands and chose to appear more casual, though he could definitely tell that Itachi had become much more protective of the deity than the last time he remembered.

"Is that it?" Itachi questioned, wanting to get rid of his old partner as soon as possible.

However, Kisame merely smiled slyly. "Is it ever?"

Understanding immediately, Itachi turned halfway towards Hinata, but did not look at her. "Go back to the cave."

He said it so emotionlessly and somewhat arrogantly that it made Hinata furrow her brows for a moment before relenting without question and walking away from the two demons.

Itachi waited until Hinata had disappeared from his vision before confronting his long-time partner. "What are you really here for?"

Suddenly, Kisame was not smiling anymore. "Lord Madara mentioned something about you bringing a deity into our world. I thought I'd deliver the warning myself, though even I have no clue what you're thinking."

"I've already discussed this with him."

Kisame raised an unnoticeable eyebrow in disbelief. "He was perfectly fine with it?"

"We made an agreement, so that she's not only protected by me, but by him as well."

"What kind of agreement?" Kisame questioned curiously.

Itachi merely stared at him, face a blank slate of emotion, which was his way of silently telling Kisame that it was none of his business.

"Fine, don't tell me." He paused. "Listen, Itachi, I get it that you have this weird attachment to that human—I figured that out years ago—and I'm not going against you on wanting to bring her into our world, but…Just because me and Madara are fine with it doesn't mean every other demon will be."

Itachi tilted his head just slightly, his red eyes betraying a sarcastic boredom. "I'm aware of that."

"Okay, then, good luck with that." Kisame didn't question any further. "Anyway, I'm heading to Kiri, and I'll be there for a while, so if you and your deity want to stop by for a visit, I'd love to show her around." He chuckled at seeing Itachi's warning glare.

Kisame turned to leave, but stopped. "Oh…before I go," he cleared his throat. "don't you think your deity should know, especially since every demon might already know or will know in the future?"

"Know what?" The red-eyed demon asked tersely.

"That you've claimed her as a mate and marked her as your own. I may not have ever seen a mating mark, but I could tell just by smelling her—and you—that you mated with her, and she doesn't even know."

Itachi's eyes narrowed before turning around to walk away. "Leave, Kisame."

"Just trying to help, Itachi! When a demon mates, it's kind of a big deal!" Kisame called out, but Itachi had already departed, which made the blue demon shake his head before leaving himself. _That little deity won't last too long in our world. Itachi better know what he's doing._

* * *

"Sakura," Tsunade began, entwining her fingers in front of her. "When was the last time you saw Hinata?"

"At dinner," she replied, taking a quick glance at Jiraiya, who stood just off to the side. And unbeknownst to her, Ino leaned against the wall behind the patriarch, completely hidden from view and silent from hearing.

"How did she seem to you? Anything abnormal?"

"No, ma'am. From what I remember, she seemed fine, happy even."

"What do you think happened to her?"

"I don't know." Sakura paused. "I don't think she just disappeared. I think…she might've been taken away, but I don't know why anyone would want to do that."

Tsunade mulled it over as well. "To be used as a hostage perhaps?"

Sakura thought about it before shaking her head in denial. "That's possible, but not even demons can get into the temple…right?"

* * *

Itachi arrived back to the cave in time to see Hinata sorting through all their belongings, seemingly determining how much she could carry. Her finger was raised to her lip and her brow puckered in thought. The sight of it made him want to smile at the picture she presented, knowing with pride that this woman belonged to him completely, the mark on her neck being visual proof of that.

Speaking of which…

Hearing him approach, Hinata looked up, her eyes as bright with love as they always were when she saw him, but in a moment, that brightness extinguished into suspicion. Her hand rose to the right side of her neck, the opposite side of where the mark was located. "Kisame said that something was here…that you did something to my neck." She gulped. "He seemed surprised that you didn't tell me whatever it was…Itachi?"

He was quiet and straight-faced for a while before finally stepping toward her and grasping her hand that had been touching her neck. "There's nothing there."

"Itachi—"

He interrupted her protest by releasing her hand, and instead touched his fingers to the left side of her neck, brushing the mark and eliciting a shiver from her. "But there is something here."

"What is it?" she whispered, feeling softened by the tender look in his demonically red eyes.

His fingers stroked against the black, tattoo-like seal. "It's a demon marking…my demon marking."

"Like…Sasuke's?" She watched as a cold glint entered his eyes, but it vanished just as quickly.

"No…This is a rare marking, a sign of being mated." He watched curiously at the way her eyes widened in remembrance of their discussion about the demon's way of mating. "Do you remember when I bit you there?"

She seemed to be confused by the question before it dawned on her in the way that her cheeks flamed red.

He smirked. "That was the ritual. I took your blood and you gained my mark, and a connection much more powerful than this," he motioned to the pendant. "was formed between us."

"_**It's considered to be a soul-binding contract, which means that if a demon chooses to mate, he or she is forever tied to their mate, never allowed to take another for as long as they live."**_

That explained why she could tell when Itachi was not nearby, when those footsteps did not belong to him, why she felt as if she could summon him with her thoughts. They _had _become more connected.

At her continued stunned silence, Itachi continued in a quiet murmur. "This mark will protect you from demons. When they see you, they will sense me and know to stay away if they want to live. Every demon knows to never get between a demon and his mate." He smirked again in inner pride before lowering his lips to the mark. "It also does this,"

She felt him kiss the mark and touch her tattooed skin with his tongue, and the action created an unimaginable fire that coursed through her veins. It was so strong that it made her gasp and her knees go weak, and her hands clench onto his arms just to steady herself. Her breathing became shaky just as her eyes closed in ecstasy.

But something was still bothering her, so summoning all her resistance, she pushed herself away from him. "Wait,"

Itachi seemed piqued at not having been able to proceed with what would've been a great ending to their conversation.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked feeling perturbed. "Why did I have to find out from…Kisame?"

"You make it seem as if I had no intention to tell you at all." Itachi was definitely irritated now.

"Did you?" the question slipped out before she had even thought about it, which was strange for her. Was this new connection between them to blame for her speaking whatever she thought, when she thought it?

Itachi glared at her, while reaching for the larger knapsack to carry. "Don't annoy me, Hinata."

That seemed to only make her frown in obvious irritation before grabbing her own knapsack in quiet fury.

He glanced at her. "Let's go to Iwa."

Still frowning, she didn't look at him, but she did follow.

* * *

"I know you and Hinata were close, Temari." Tsunade spoke comfortingly. "I don't want this to be harder for you than it already is."

Temari shrugged, keeping her gaze on the floor and her arms cross over her chest. "It's fine."

"What do you think about all of this?" the matriarch asked sympathetically.

"It's not right. None of it seems right." Temari muttered, seeming not even a part of the conversation anymore. "I knew something was wrong."

Tsunade leaned forward in interested surprise. "Something was wrong? With Hinata?"

Temari looked up at the matriarch. "She didn't seem like herself."

"Really?" the matriarch exchanged a glance with Jiraiya. "Everyone else so far has claimed that Hinata seemed very happy at dinner."

"Who's 'everyone'?"

"Oh…Ino, Sakura, Tenten, Choji, Kankuro…Shikamaru, Shino, Lee, Kib—"

"_None_ of them actually know her!" Temari stood in outrage. "Hinata's my best friend, and I know her better than all of them! Of course they wouldn't know if she was actually happy or not!"

"Temari," Tsunade spoke, trying to placate the blonde deity. "I didn't mean to insinuate that."

Temari inhaled shakily before sitting down again.

Jiraiya cleared his throat. "How did Hinata seem to you when you saw her last?"

Breathing deeply, she replied. "She seemed happy, but at the same time, she wasn't. It's like she was hiding something…" she took on a faraway gaze, as if picturing the previous night all over again. "She would smile, but it wasn't real…it wasn't because she was happy…"

* * *

"So, nothing seemed wrong last night?"

"No." Gaara answered the matriarch simply.

"Nothing at all?" she pressed.

"No."

"Gaara," she began uneasily. "We all know that you and Hinata have been very good friends since you two were kids. Temari has insisted that something was wrong with Hinata—"

"Is that supposed to be significant?" he asked, his tone unwavering.

"It damn well could!" Tsunade began to feel frustrated with the redhead's lack of emotion. "We're trying to get as much information as possible so that we can find Hinata!"

"I don't know anything." His reply was said with such resolve that it couldn't be questioned. "Are we done?"

"Yes…go ahead and leave." Tsunade sighed in frustration, rubbing her fingers against her temples.

Gaara stood and walked towards the door, but for some reason, he stopped and turned slightly towards the matriarch and patriarch. There was a pause before he spoke. "Wherever Hinata is…I believe that she is safe." His aquamarine gaze met Tsunade's. "I believe this because Hinata and I have been 'very good friends' since we were kids."

The matriarch stared at him, not saying anything.

"I know her." He finished and then left the office swiftly.

* * *

"We need to find her."

"Naruto, we're doing all we can—"

"It's not enough, Granny!" he pounded his fist against the wall. "I hate just sitting here, answering questions, and not doing anything! We should be out there, outside the village, searching everywhere for Hinata!"

"What makes you think she's outside the village?"

"Well, she's obviously not inside of it! I want to talk to that old man, and tell him that we need to send out teams to scout for Hinata."

Jiraiya laid a hand upon the blonde's shoulder. "Naruto…this is just the beginning. We won't stop looking."

Naruto finally calmed down enough to nod in agreement. "Hinata's one of my important people. I don't want her to get hurt." His piercing blue eyes stared with inner determination at his mentor. "For all we know, she could be in a lot of pain right now."

* * *

Hinata's shoulders, arms, and legs had never ached in such a way as it was currently. Itachi was proving to be a relentless traveler. Except for short breaks, they rarely stopped walking, and while Hinata could handle walking, Itachi's walking was more like a jog. That, and her pack had somehow gotten heavier the longer they walked.

She was starting to regret all those things that she had packed—things that had seemed so important at the time, but now were just proving to be an unwanted burden.

Trying to ignore the aches, she stumbled after Itachi in the dark of the evening, trying to keep up, but she was so tired from "walking" all day. With an inward groan, she moved her pack to her other shoulder, not finding much relief in it.

As he had been doing the whole trip, Itachi glanced back to make sure that she was okay. She seemed okay, but he could feel her agitation and fatigue as if it was his own. So, he slowed his walk until he was right next to her, and wordlessly took her pack to carry, along with his own.

Hinata looked up at him in surprise, and it then turned to gratitude when he handed her a canteen of water. "Thank you," Hinata murmured before drinking thirstily from it.

"I forget that travel is more difficult for humans." Itachi muttered, resituating both of the packs onto his shoulders.

She held the canteen out toward him. "Do you want any?"

He shook his head once in reply. "I will not require anything for a while."

Hinata was quiet for a moment before smiling slightly as they kept walking through the dense foliage of the forest. "You make it sound like humans are a lot weaker than demons."

"They are." He replied without hesitation, keeping his gaze focused more on the trail than her.

Hinata couldn't help it, but she had bristled at the insult to her own kind. "I may not be very strong for a human or a deity, but the rest of my family at the temple could match any demon in strength, I think." If she wasn't so infuriated by the conversation, she would've blushed at her own audacity, things she never would've said just twenty-four hours prior.

"Perhaps against the lower-class demons, but against a higher-class demon, they would have a better chance at tearing down that Konoha wall with their bare hands than going up against us and winning."

Hinata frowned, seeing Itachi's arrogance on display, only matched by his obvious disgust with the human race. "You don't know that."

He finally glanced over at her, giving her a deadpan stare. "Trust me, I do." And then, he went back to staring ahead of him.

"So, you really think that humans are that weak?"

"Yes,"

"Even though we won the first war?" Was she provoking him? Had their new relationship loosened her tongue this much?

It was Itach's turn to bristle, as if the insinuated insult had been directed to him, solely. "The only reason the humans won that war was because of the goddess. Without the goddess, they lose, as they did in the second war."

Hinata kept frowning, feeling heated with the conversation and the need to defend her own kind. "If that's true, then why haven't we been conquered by the demons yet? If demons are really that formidable, and humans really that weak, then we should've been destroyed a long time ago."

Itachi turned on his heel to face her, his eyes narrowing into a scowl. "The human race still exists only because that goddess literally protected them with her last breath. If it weren't for her, then the human race would've been extinct centuries ago."

Hinata stared at him with a defiance she didn't know she had. "I'm a human, as well, Itachi. And I don't want to believe that I'm as weak as you say I am."

His jaw clenched in anger before turning to begin walking again at a brisk pace. "I don't consider you one of them."

He said it almost too quietly to hear, but Hinata still heard it, and immediately began trying to catch up to him. "You may think that way, but to a human, I am one of them. And to any other demon besides you, I'm still an enemy."

He could tell that she was just as livid about the conversation as he was. "What's your point?"

Hinata sped up until she was standing right in front of him, making him stop. "Stop insulting my family. They were there for me when you weren't."

Itachi felt internal shock at her words, and a kind of sting he was not familiar with. Rather than lashing out at her like he wanted, he instead dropped both the packs to the ground. "We'll sleep here."

Hinata watched him walk away into the forest to presumably gather wood for a fire, so she chose to make their bed and get herself ready to go to sleep.

As she did so, she thought about how incensed it had made her hearing Itachi call her own kind weak. She had gotten so defensive over it, and still felt defensive even after he had left. She loved that demon with all her heart, but he could be such an asshole at times.

After making the bed and finishing her nightly regimen, Hinata curled under the blanket, watching for Itachi. When he did return with the firewood, he didn't look at her once, and instead went straight into building the fire.

She watched him, staying just as quiet, refusing to talk to him, knowing that they both were still too hurt and angry to make up with each other just yet.

Once the fire had started to blaze, sending out waves upon waves of roiling heat, Itachi finally looked over at her, both of their gazes meeting. Then, Hinata turned over so that her back faced him instead, making him scowl at the sight.

If she was going to be stubborn about this, then he would, too. So, he refused to sleep anywhere near her, and instead found a log stump to lounge against, choosing to keep watch for a while before dozing himself.

* * *

"Have a seat, Neji."

The guardian sat down and crossed his arms tightly over his chest, his white eyes seeming cold and uncaring, his body tense and rigid.

"Some others have said that you walked Hinata back to her bedroom last night."

"I was the last to see her." Neji smirked, though it was cynical. "Are you accusing me of something, Lady Tsunade?"

"Of course not, Neji. We're just getting—"

"Information." He finished for her. "I know. Lee told me."

"Did she seem happy to you, as well?"

Neji didn't answer right away, his gaze turning downcast. "She seemed normal."

"Neji," Tsunade began. "You've been Hinata's guardian for years. You've spent more time with her than anyone." She watched him scowl and his lip curl in anger. "You need to know that none of this was your fault. Whatever happened to Hinata, there was nothing you could've done."

Clenching his jaw, Neji stared at the matriarch coolly. "I disagree." Standing suddenly, Neji started departing for the door.

"Neji, we're not done yet."

"I don't care. Let me know when you're done asking questions and actually want to do something about this." With that, he slammed the door behind him, leaving an exasperated matriarch behind.

* * *

Hinata wasn't sure what time it was, but judging by how the moon was still high in the night sky, she should still be asleep. However, her repeated shivering had awoken her, alerting her to the fact that the once blazing fire had become nothing but a small pile of embers. Thus, she was cold.

She tried to look for Itachi, but it was difficult at first with how dark it was. A few blinks and her eyes finally adjusted to the point where she could make out Itachi's sleeping figure just across the fire. His head was slightly bowed, his eyes closed, and his breathing rhythmic. Although, he was still sitting up, rather than laying down, and it made Hinata wonder how that could possibly be comfortable.

Then again, he had said that demons didn't need much when it came to basic needs, such as a comfortable place to sleep.

Frowning in concern, she got out of her bed and regretted it once the cold hit her full-force. But, she continued, sleepily stumbling toward her slumbering demon before kneeling in front of him. It didn't matter how mad she had been at him earlier; she would get over it in the morning. But, currently, she just wanted Itachi next to her, and it wasn't just because she was cold; it was also because she suddenly couldn't sleep well without him holding her.

Staying quiet, she reached her hand out to touch his cheek, but his hand wrapped around her wrist before she even got close. His eyes opened later, revealing bright red orbs and a lack of emotion. "What is it?" he questioned, his voice roughened.

"I…" she gulped nervously, feeling herself blush. "Will you, um…sleep with me?"

He raised a brow, which made her lower her head in embarrassment.

"Please?" she murmured below her breath.

Without saying anything, he stood and helped her stand up after him. Still grasping her wrist, he led her over to the bed she had made and motioned for her to lay down while he removed all his clothes, except for his pants.

Hinata watched him from under the covers, curled on her side, waiting for him. When he finally got into bed next to her, his eyes never leaving her own, Hinata took the chance to inch closer to him, burying her face into his chest and wrapped an arm around his torso, as if to pull him closer.

He obeyed her nudges before wrapping his own arm around her and securing the blanket over her shoulders. Just as he thought that she had fallen asleep already, she suddenly leaned up to kiss him, whispering "I love you" before nuzzling back into her position.

Though Itachi didn't say it in return, he did pull her closer to him until his lips were pressing against the top of her head. Only then did he close his eyes and join her in a deep sleep that, for the past couple hours, had evaded them both.

* * *

Sasuke had been answering the matriarch and patriarch's questions for what felt like hours. After the ninth or tenth question, he finally told them, "I really don't know anything about her disappearing."

Tsunade looked confused. "You know…for someone who appears to be Hinata's boyfriend, you don't seem that bothered about her going missing. Neji, her guardian, looked ready to kill someone, but you…you look like this is just a normal day."

"So?"

"It's a little odd, Sasuke. I know you're a little on the emotionally inept side, but…do you not feel anything? Are you not worried in the slightest about Hinata and whether or not she's safe?" At his persistent blank face, Tsunade tensed and her voice roughened with irritation. "Do you even _care_?"

Sasuke didn't even twitch; he simply rose from his chair, appearing bored. "Hinata and I are not a couple, nor were we ever a couple. So, you can stop assuming that I care about any of this."

"What do you mean you were never a couple?" Tsunade questioned, standing from her seat. "Sasuke!"

Sasuke ignored her as he opened the door, only to have Kakashi stumble inside with a muttered "oops". The dark-haired Uchiha suppressed rolling his eyes as he side-stepped his mentor and walked out of the room.

"Kakashi," Tsunade acknowledged with a questioning tone. "Were you eavesdropping on our conversation?"

The gray-haired man was scratching the back of his head in mock embarrassment at having been caught. "Well…about that…"

Sighing heavily, Tsunade sat back down and pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. "Ino," she called out to the blonde who had been hiding this entire time. "What have you learned?"

Ino came out of hiding and walked in front of the desk to face her matriarch. "Not much. Some of them, like Sasuke, Gaara, and Neji were really closed off, so I couldn't get a read off of them. The ones who weren't closed off told you everything they knew, so…" she shrugged helplessly. "I'm sorry, Lady Tsunade, that I wasn't any help."

"It's alright. I figured it wasn't going to work, but I wanted to try anyway. You can leave now."

"Yes, ma'am." Ino nodded respectfully and smiled at Kakashi before leaving the room completely.

It was then that Tsunade acknowledged Kakashi again. "If what Sasuke was saying is true, that he and Hinata were never a couple, then why would they act like they were?"

Scratching the corner of his mouth and raising his eyes upward in thought, he replied. "Hard to say. According to the gossip, Neji had a thing for Hinata, but it didn't seem like she felt the same way in return, so my theory is that Sasuke became a defense mechanism for her, an attempt to keep poor Neji's affections at bay, or better yet—"

"I don't want to hear the gossip, Kakashi." The matriarch interrupted dryly. "What I'm more interested in is Sasuke's lack of worry over Hinata. Couple or not, anyone could tell that they had become somewhat close, so why would he not care that she was missing? Him showing that he doesn't care does nothing but make me suspicious."

"What, like he's in on it?" Jiraiya questioned with a raised skeptical brow. "If that's the case, then we might as well be suspicious of Gaara and Neji while we're at it. The reason we can't, though, is because we know these kids and it's far from something they would do."

Tsunade sighed again. "I know, but…" she trailed off, thinking. "Neji's angry and hurt, so there's nothing to be suspicious of there, and Gaara even seems a little emotionally off in his own way. Maybe Sasuke's lack of emotion is really because he's emotionally inept."

Kakashi stepped forward. "I wouldn't say that."

"Why not?"

"Because Sasuke is not emotionally inept—he's just quite talented at hiding his feelings."

Tsunade seemed exhausted from the day's events, and it was mimicked in her voice. "So, he does care, then?"

"I believe so."

Jiraiya cradled his chin in his fingers. "If they all care so much about her, then why were they closed off when we questioned them?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Because they're hiding something?"

"In that case," The blonde woman leaned back in her chair. "One, they could all be behind Hinata disappearing, or two, they're going to use whatever information they have to find Hinata on their own. Either way, I don't like it."

Jiraiya nodded emphatically. "Agreed."

"So, what would you like to do about it?" Kakashi asked.

"Let's just keep a close eye on them for now. If there's one thing I can trust them with at this point, it's that they're all concerned for Hinata's safety. That alone is stopping me from beating the truth out of them with my bare hands."

* * *

The next morning, it was only because of the matriarch's orders that Neji left his room, and it was only because she wanted him to deliver a message to Lord Sarutobi. That morning, she had handed him the scroll and told him to give it to Lord Sarutobi and be sure to express its urgency.

"Why me?" he had asked.

"Just because Hinata's missing doesn't mean I'm going to let you become useless, or worse, a hermit."

"I can't be useful by training? Or, better yet, a mission?"

She glowered. "_This _is your mission. Now, go!"

Eventually, Neji found himself trudging down the Konoha streets, heading toward the tower that housed the leader's offices and rooms. One hand clenched around the scroll and the other hand was shoved into his pocket, his face expressing just how pointless he thought this errand was.

Didn't the matriarch understand that he had much more important things to do, like plan how to rescue Hinata? He didn't have time to be a messenger boy when Hinata was in the hands of a demon…not that anyone besides him, Sasuke, and Gaara knew that, though. If they did, he had a feeling that he wouldn't be the only one itching to go after her and reclaim her back.

How Gaara managed to stay so resigned about all of it, Neji didn't know. For that matter, Neji couldn't understand why Gaara would let her go in the first place, why he would _help _her _leave_. Neji didn't like Sasuke at all, but at the least the young half-demon was as adamant about Hinata's safety as he was—unlike the red-headed traitor.

Neji scowled at the very thought of what Gaara had allowed to happen. It only irritated Neji further to think about the demon being with Hinata, and how he was surely corrupting her in some way.

_Did she…_

_Did she give herself to that demon? _Neji thought, his heart dropping into his stomach at just wondering about it. _Did he claim her already?_

Seeming to scowl at nothing, Neji continued walking, his mind completely absent as he pushed open the tower door and began climbing the stairs toward the leader's main office.

When he reached the leader's door, and despite his current mood, he did not barge in; instead, he knocked politely before entering the office, scroll still in hand. "Lord Sarutobi," Neji began, but halted when he noticed that the person behind the desk was not the leader, but the leader's protégé, Yukio.

Yukio smiled at his visitor and stood to greet him. "I apologize, but Lord Sarutobi is not here, nor will he be for a while. How are you, Neji, and what can I do for you?"

"Lady Tsunade sent me to deliver this to the leader, but since he's not here," Neji turned on his heel only to be stopped by Yukio's voice.

"I'll take it off your hands. I'll be the first to see my lord when he returns, so I can ensure that he'll get it."

Neji looked at the young, green-eyed man with obvious distrust before finally shrugging and handing the document over to him.

"Thank you. Oh, and Neji," Yukio stepped closer to him. "I'm sorry about your deity. I can't imagine how hard that must be for you to lose her."

"I'm getting her back." Neji replied with a cutting tone.

"Of course," Yukio nodded and smiled without threat. His smile quickly disappeared as he walked back toward the desk to sit down. "Can I ask you something?"

Edging toward the door to leave, Neji groaned under his breath before turning around to face the soon-to-be leader. "What?"

"Do you believe she ran away," he asked, referring to Hinata. "Or that she was kidnapped?"

Neji gulped and hesitated before responding. "What does it matter what I think?"

Yukio offered a tight smile. "Between you and me, I think it's a kidnapping. However, I don't know why a human, one of us, would do that. A demon, yes, of course, that would make sense, but how could a demon get through the barrier to do it? It's impossible, but…a demon being at fault for this would make the most sense, would it not?"

Neji didn't reply.

Yukio chuckled humorlessly. "I guess, in a way, I _want_ the culprit to be a demon."

"Why?" Neji asked, brows furrowed in confusion.

"Because then I'd have an excuse to start a war against them."

"And put millions of lives at risk for your selfish endeavor?"

Yukio's mouth shrugged before smiling somewhat pleasantly. "There are demons practically just outside the village gates—how are millions of lives not already at risk?"

In silence, Neji inwardly agreed that he had a point. But still… "What's with your grudge against demons? Besides the obvious, of course."

Relaxing into the chair, Yukio laced his fingers together above his stomach. "Years ago, a demon killed my parents when they were out on a scouting mission. That demon took away the only family I had, so I guess you could say that I _am_ holding a bit of a grudge."

Neji inclined his head. "So, you want revenge, then?"

Yukio stood, his expression turning sour at the thought of revenge. "I can't tell you how many times a day I think about exacting my revenge on Itachi Uchiha for what he did to me and mine."

Eyes widened in shock at recognizing the name, Neji gulped. "What did you say?"

Yukio half-smiled. "Itachi Uchiha. I'm not surprised you recognize it, since he is infamously one of the most notoriously dangerous demons we have record of. How'd _you_ hear about him?"

After a stretch of silence in which Neji did nothing but appear nervous and anxious, he finally muttered something to say. "What if I told you that it really was a demon who had a hand in Hinata's disappearance?"

Suddenly serious, Yukio stared hard at his visitor, lowering his tone. "I'd ask how you knew."

White eyes met green. "I saw him."

"The demon who took her?"

With barely a nod in reply, Neji added, "And what if I told you that the demon who has her right now is Itachi Uchiha?"

Green eyes glinted with something sinister. "I'd say that you and I have some things to discuss now that we have a common enemy…assuming, of course, that you want revenge against him, as well?"

"Undoubtedly," Neji murmured strongly before taking the seat across from Yukio's desk. "Tell me everything you know about him."

* * *

_"Jealousy is always born with love, but does not always die with it."_

_-Duc De La Rochefoucauld Francois_

* * *

**The next chapter will start immediately after this one, so don't worry, your questions will be answered soon. **

**In case you noticed, I decided to use Ino throughout the chapter. I was originally going to use someone like Temari, Sasuke, or Gaara, one of the more popular characters, but thought better of it. Instead, I wanted to explore a lesser character's perspective, and Ino just seemed interesting.**

**I will hopefully have the next chapter out soon since it is summer break, but don't let that stop you from letting me know how you all have been doing since the last update. I've missed this story and I've missed you all!**

**See you next chapter!**

**-Tranquilwriter**


	32. Turbulence

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**AGE REMINDER: Rookie Nine—18, Neji, Tenten, Lee—19, Kankuro—20, Temari—21**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XXXI**

**Turbulence**

* * *

"_The ultimate test of a relationship is to disagree but to hold hands."  
- Alexandra Penney_

"_Love is whatever you can still betray. Betrayal can only happen if you love."  
- John LeCarre_

* * *

"The death of my parents was the first time that I heard of Itachi Uchiha." Yukio began, while walking over to a nearby bookshelf. "After that, I began to research the demon, wanting to know as much about my enemy as possible."

Neji watched from his seat as the leader's protégé began pulling book after book until there was a small pile of them in his arms.

Walking back toward the desk, Yukio placed the antiquated books down before staring at his companion. "These are the only records we have of him."

"What are they?" Neji motioned to the books questioningly.

"Diaries." Yukio answered simply with a smile. "One or two of the diaries belonged to past village leaders, while most of them used to belong to past generations of deities. One of the deities, in particular, kept excellent record of her life from the moment she could write to the moment she couldn't anymore." Pausing, the green-eyed young man handed one of the diaries to Neji. "Then there's that one, which was given to Lord Sarutobi by someone you know. Recognize the name?"

Neji glanced at the first page, not recognizing the name or the writing. In response, he merely shook his head before handing the journal back to the soon-to-be leader.

Yukio smiled wider. "It's the diary of Lady Tsunade's grandmother."

Neji looked up, surprised. "Her grandmother was a deity? I didn't know that."

"Neither did I until Lord Sarutobi told me. Anyway, we only have one diary of hers, and while she mentioned the Uchiha clan, she never went into any more detail than that."

"There's an entire clan of them?" Neji asked with a lowered voice that belied his displeasure.

"There was, according to Tsunade's grandmother, but once again, she didn't go into any detail. Anyway," he put aside that journal, and instead grabbed the oldest-looking book on the desk. "The oldest record that we have of Itachi dates back to just over two-hundred years ago during the Battle of Iwa, which was a land that used to be occupied by humans _until_ that battle."

With a sardonic smirk, Neji commented. "I'm guessing our race didn't win that fight."

"No, we did not. The Battle of Iwa came to be known as one of the bloodiest battles in all written history, and guess who led the army of demons to attack Iwa,"

"Itachi Uchiha?"

"Who else?" Yukio snorted below his breath. "That battle gave him renown in both the demon and human races as being one of the most merciless demons to have ever existed. The next record we have of him was during the Battle of Kiri, which, as you recall, was the battle that began the second End War."

"Right,"

"Every battle that Itachi Uchiha participated in ended up in a victory for the demons, and it was with his help that the demons claimed the territory in the north that they have now. He also fought against the deities multiple times, and in the final battle of the war, he killed two of them himself."

Neji stared dazedly at the desk in front of him. _How ironic that decades later, he ended up getting romantically attached to one._

Unknowing of Neji's inner thoughts, Yukio continued, his tone laced with overly obvious concern. "That, of course, only enhances my worry for Hinata, since Itachi's track record with deities isn't exactly friendly."

Neji frowned. "She's not dead."

Brows raised, Yukio offered a placating smile that disguised his underlying doubt. "Of course."

A moment of silence passed between the two men as the guardian glared at the protégé before speaking once more. "What else do you know about him?"

Yukio easily fell back into his demon history lesson, as he used one of the diaries to make his next point. "Well, it's uncertain exactly _when _it happened, but at some point, most of the Uchiha clan seemed to disappear, and by that, I mean that there were only two Uchiha demons that the humans definitely knew were still alive."

Neji nodded. "Itachi and who?"

"His father, Fugaku Uchiha."

The Hyuga's eyes narrowed. _Sasuke's father._

"After that, there's no record of Itachi or his father until the village massacre over ten years ago, during which Itachi killed his father, along with every human that lived in that village. Lord Sarutobi recorded the event, along with reports from the scouting teams we sent there almost two years after it happened."

Neji appeared confused. "Why wait so long?"

Yukio's lips tightened into a thin line to match the anger that filled his emerald eyes. "Because Itachi didn't leave the area after it happened. We don't know why he stayed, though many have suspected that he could've been so injured that he _couldn't _leave yet. Of course, none of us knew that he had stayed in the area until _after _my parents were killed by him. At that point, Lord Sarutobi ordered that no one leave the village so long as there was a possibility that Itachi Uchiha was close by."

Neji remembered all of that. He remembered years ago hearing from a man in the village about the time when no one was allowed to leave the village, though, at the time, he didn't know why. He also remembered that around the time of the village massacre, Sasuke had joined their temple home, and it was also the same time that Hinata had first met her demon. She said that she had healed his injuries. Everything that Yukio was saying was running parallel to all that he had heard from Hinata and witnessed himself.

It amazed him how out-of-the-loop he had been all these years. All the information was there; Neji just never saw it. "Damn…" he murmured, not meaning to say it out loud.

"Yes, my sentiments exactly." Yukio replied, assuming that Neji was remarking about his last statement. "And, just when we thought we had seen the last of Itachi Uchiha, we find out that he stole away with one of our deities…which brings me to the question…"

Neji looked up at him expectantly, waiting for Yukio to spit out whatever question it was that he had.

Green eyes bore into Neji's nearly gray eyes. "How did he manage to get through the barrier?"

Neji shook his head before answering. "I have no idea."

"Could it be that the barrier no longer works?"

"If it didn't, wouldn't we have been invaded by now?"

"That is true, but it's just as possible that the demons could be waiting for something before deciding to attack."

"Like what?"

It was Yukio's turn to shake his head incredulously. "I wish I knew. All I do know is that we could all be in very big trouble, and Itachi Uchiha taking Hinata could very well be the start of it all."

"So, what do you propose?" Neji questioned, testing Yukio on his leadership skills, while at the same time, needing an ally in the quest to retrieve Hinata.

Yukio didn't respond right away, which revealed that he wasn't impulsive, but rather, one who strategized before making a decision. "I think…it would be beneficial that we share all this information with Lord Sarutobi and the Divine Temple. I also think it would be imperative that we send a message to our allies, informing them of the disaster that could possibly be coming our way."

Neji knew that it was a good idea, but he couldn't help feeling his gut twist and turn at the thought of telling the temple residents. It made his gut churn even more when he envisioned how Sasuke and Gaara would react to hearing that Neji had told Yukio about Itachi. Though Neji didn't care for either of the half-demons' opinions, he knew without a doubt that they would both look at him as if he were a traitor, and in a way, he knew that he _had _betrayed Hinata.

But, it was for the best, wasn't it?

He was her guardian—it was his duty to protect her! She obviously didn't know what was best for her, but Neji did, and the best thing for her was to get as far away from that demon as possible.

That, of course, meant that Neji had no choice but to tell Yukio and eventually the whole temple. Hinata's safety was at stake. He had no choice…

_I didn't want to betray you, Hinata, but you left me no choice…_

_I'll do whatever I have to do to bring you back home…and see that demon's head on a silver platter._

* * *

Red eyes blinked open blearily, surprised that it was much later in the morning than he had planned to awaken. Although, seeing the head of dark hair in front of him made him recall exactly why he was sleeping so much lately. Holding his mate in his arms gave him all the reason in the world to not want to ever leave his bed, no matter how ridiculously they argued just hours before. All negative emotions had disappeared the moment she had approached him in the night, embarrassingly asking that he return to bed with her.

He remembered the way her lower lip had pushed forward and how her eyes had widened in child-like bashfulness. Even in the darkness of the night, he could see the light dusting of pink across her cheeks, and it had never made him feel more grateful for her existence than at that moment. After all, it only took one night for him to realize that he could not sleep without her in his arms, and apparently, it was the same for her as well.

Though their opinions on their own races left them each with a stubborn will, it had obviously been no match for their blatantly obvious hunger and need for the other's touch.

What a ludicrous thing love was; especially since it had the power to shut down his mind with an all-consuming need for just one smile from her, one look, one kiss, one moment of pressing her body against his.

One smile from her and he knew that he would gladly worship at her altar for the rest of eternity, and that epiphany alone was enough to make him realize once again that love was absolutely, undeniably, without question the most nonsensical emotion to have ever come into existence. It had to be the goddess' good humor at work—nothing else could explain it.

But none of that mattered when one of Hinata's legs had wrapped around his own, one hand laced with his over her stomach, and her head resting comfortably on his arm. It made him hold her tighter and bury his face in her hair so that he could inhale the scent she carried that was now mingled with his own.

When she began to move onto her back, it gave him the perfect opportunity to nuzzle her neck and kiss the mark that sealed her as his mate. At the center of the tattoo was his own individual mark that defined him as Itachi Uchiha, a mark that mimicked one of his eye abilities that only he possessed. Surrounding it was an intricate weaving of crescent moons, each moon interacting with another moon, which described Hinata in a way that amazed even him.

With a devilish smirk, he kissed the mark again before deciding to trace it with the tip of his tongue. He began with the edge of the largest crescent, and then moved his tongue in a maze of elaborate half-circles, each one awakening Hinata more than the last.

The first touch made her shiver, the second made her breathing deeper and quicker, and by the third or fourth touch, she was moaning as her body squirmed for his touch. White, sleepy eyes opened halfway to stare at him, allowing him to see the blatant desire that resided within the milky depths. That combined with the light blush on her cheeks and her squirming body was more than enough to make him hard with arousal.

But it wasn't until she half-murmured, half-whispered his name that he moved over her, caging her body with his own and swooping down to claim her mouth with aggressive passion. In response, her hand moved to brush against the side of his face lovingly before stroking down to his chest, where her touches became feather-light. Although, to him, her touches were teasing, tempting him to beg for more, so naturally, he did…in a way.

He lowered himself over her and growled against her mouth, while grinding against her with demanding intimacy. Hinata gasped and immediately wanted—_needed_—him closer to her, so she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, barely digging her nails into his skin before scratching lightly up and down his back.

Itachi exhaled against her lips at the shudder that ran through his body, and then gulped before a groan could escape his throat. Resting his cheek against hers, he stayed still, relishing in her squirming and how she arched into him, lifting her hips against his, betraying how much she needed his touch. That alone made him feel relief that he wasn't the only one who could be driven to the brink of insanity just by being near the other. She needed him just as much as he needed her.

That was made only more apparent when she whispered his name against his ear in a pleading tone that sent heat coursing through his body like lightning, turning his entire body rigid with desire for his female. Before she had a chance to protest, Itachi levered himself up enough so that he could rip her gown from her body, leaving her completely naked underneath him. The nightgown was discarded, and he doubted that it touched the ground before he was on her again.

He moved his way between her thighs, and after some quick shifting, he pushed himself inside of her roughly. Hinata moaned, throwing her head back at the immense pleasure that came with his rough, but passionate treatment of her body.

The hard thrusting began not a second later, and his pace was just as rough in its quickness.

The pleasure had only intensified when she had reached up to touch him, but in a quick movement, one of his hands had entrapped both of her wrists, forcing her arms above her head. It was a gentle grip, but stronger than steel so that she couldn't even struggle.

Then, staring intensely into her eyes, he made sure that she was looking at him while his other hand swept over a breast, teasing the sensitive flesh before stroking over the flat plane of her stomach and ending at her hip. He gripped onto her hip, lifting her slightly above the ground before his hand moved to the area under her knee, hooking her leg over his shoulder in order to explore a new angle that left Hinata nearly crying out every time he pushed into her.

But it would never be in pain; Hinata figured that Itachi was way too good for that. Either that, or him being mated to her allowed him to be so attuned to her that if she _was _in pain, he would know.

Whatever the case was, and while she had no one else to compare him to, she felt that, like everything else he did, Itachi was a natural at love-making; he was good at it, and it showed with how confident he was with every move he made.

So, either he knew what he was doing, or his instincts were just that amazing. It didn't matter so long as he didn't stop making her feel the pleasure that was currently running rampant through her body, setting every one of her blood cells on fire.

He still kept her hands trapped above her head, so while she couldn't feel it, she could see the thin sheen of sweat covering his lean torso, and it made her clench her hands and arch towards him in pleading. "Itachi…please…" she murmured, motioning to her hands.

At the same time that he let her hands go, he increased his speed even more until Hinata had to hang onto him if she wished to stay somewhat still. Her hands moved over every facet of his body, lingering in some areas, while she whispered words of love in his ear, occasionally nibbling on his earlobe for emphasis.

Both of them were finally reaching their peaks, and he knew that it was driving her just as crazy as it was him. They both needed release, and at the same time, wanted to prolong it in a strange sort of torment that would leave them both shaking afterward.

Finally, Hinata pleaded with him and it was enough to make him thrust himself harder into her until she gave the final cry to which he followed shortly thereafter.

Too hot and sweaty to stay entangled in each other's arms, Itachi fell onto his back beside her, both of them breathing harshly, their hearts racing with activity, but satisfaction couldn't be more apparent on their faces than it was at that moment.

With clearly sated red eyes, Itachi looked over at her and had to catch his breath at how beautiful she looked after being made love to, a gratified smile gracing her lips, hair in disarray, eyes closed in utter peace. It made him reach over to stroke the back of his fingers against her cheek, a way for him to get her attention, since he internally needed her eyes to be on him. He needed her to see him just as he needed to see her face that almost constantly reflected her love for him.

Goddess, his need for her was borderline obsessive and he knew it.

She turned her head towards him, locking her eyes onto his before her smile suddenly stretched in humor. "Good morning," she giggled.

He grunted, his own lips twisting up into a satiated grin. "_Very _good morning," his voice was husky and rough, and he knew she secretly loved it when it made her shiver shortly after speaking.

Still smiling softly, Hinata inched closer to him until she was able to brush her fingers through his hair. "How early is it?"

"Not early at all. We probably should've started traveling three hours ago."

Her brows furrowed in disappointment. "So, we should leave soon, then?"

"That would be advisable if we want to get to Iwa any time soon." He smirked suddenly. "With how slow you are, I'd be surprised if we got there within a month."

She pouted and frowned, which was the closest she could come to glaring at him, but then her face cleared as she thought of what to say back to him. With a ghost of a smile touching her lips, she leaned over him until their noses were almost touching. She tilted her head until her lips whispered against his own in the barest of brushes, and when she met his gaze, his red eyes flashed with hungry desire. Not moving, she murmured against his mouth, "If you're worried about time, then maybe we should stop sleeping together until we get there."

His eyes flashed again before narrowing in irritation.

Hinata smiled innocently and shrugged, beginning to back away from him. "After all, it does take away from our travelling time, and since you want to get to Iwa so soon—" She didn't get to finish, since Itachi gripped onto her arm and swiftly pulled her back under him in a position that was starting to become very familiar.

Red eyes glinted dangerously at the wide opal eyes below him. "Just _try _to keep me from your bed. I _dare _you." He leaned down to growl against her ear, which only managed to make her shiver. "I will take you anytime, anywhere, no matter how much it may stall our traveling."

Hinata sighed shakily, inwardly shocked at the amount of desire that she felt after they had just got done making love. Yet, here they were, ready for another round. "Shouldn't we…get dressed and leave?"

Itachi smirked, those dangerous eyes of his becoming amused at how flustered he was making her. "Why? I much prefer you when you're _not _dressed,"

His mouth descended on hers, stifling the giggle that she had been about to release, only for it to later turn into a moan.

Itachi was coming to realize that so long as Hinata was his traveling partner, he was more than willing to procrastinate, and they definitely weren't leaving this clearing anytime soon.

He was making sure of it.

* * *

"Hey," A deep voice disrupted his train of thought.

Green eyes blinked open, but the rest of the redhead's body remained still in his meditation pose. "What do you want, Uchiha?" Gaara asked, his voice so typically like gravel.

A very obviously bored voice answered him in a drawl. "I was ordered to come retrieve you for some meeting we're all supposed to attend."

"When?"

"Obviously now, or I wouldn't be here."

In one fluid motion that betrayed how Gaara was not entirely human, he stood and turned to face the dark-haired half-demon. Sasuke stood halfway between him and the door to the rooftop, his arms crossed over his chest and posture relaxed. Gaara guessed that the Uchiha must have been training, since he seemed sweaty and exerted. That scowl on his face succeeded in showing just how _pleased _he must have been to have his training interrupted for something as trivial as a meeting.

As Gaara walked toward him, the two began to depart the rooftop, heading somewhere that only the Uchiha knew. Breaking the momentary silence, Gaara asked. "What is it about?"

"Trust me," Sasuke replied with a flat tone. "I know as much as you do."

"It could be about Hinata."

The Uchiha snorted. "Of course it could, though I seriously doubt it will be anything we don't already know." He paused, his eyes narrowing. "The interviews yesterday didn't exactly yield to them any notable information, and the only ones here that _would_ know anything are you, me, and Neji…and they're not going to get a word out of us."

Gaara merely grunted his agreement, but he couldn't help but worry. "That may be true, but Neji is intent on getting her back, and you seem intent on finding her, as well."

"Neji is an idiot, who allowed himself to be blinded by his obsession with her." Sasuke tensed suddenly. "The only reason I would track her down is because she will lead me to _him_. Once I exact my revenge on my brother…"

Gaara gave him a side-long glance, only to see the Uchiha's tense stature fade before he shrugged without care.

"I'll take Hinata back with me as long as she stays out of my way."

Gaara was sorely tempted to shake his head at the man walking next to him. Though his feelings were far from romantic, it was obvious to everyone that the Uchiha did care about Hinata. His friendship with the healing deity had been an unintentional surprise, just as it had been for Gaara. And now both of the half-demons were helplessly protective of her in the same way a brother would be of his younger sister.

Gaara, of course, would never admit it vocally, but he missed Hinata and her understanding smile, and how she was one of the few in his life who could quell his loneliness. His brother and sister never had a choice about staying near Gaara, and Naruto was the only one who truly understood him, simply because of what he was, but Hinata had been special.

She had been the first one, wholly human and non-related, to accept the redhead for what he was, and went even further by seeking friendship from him. He missed their late-night conversations and how Hinata made him feel needed, especially in her emotionally vulnerable moments. In a strange way, Gaara had become dependent on her dependence on _him_.

He truly did want her to be happy, even if it was with a demon, but there would always be a dull throbbing in a part of his heart, reminding him that one of his best friends was no longer there.

Surely, Sasuke felt something similar to that. Of course, it was doubtful that Sasuke felt as strongly as Gaara did, since the Uchiha and the deity hadn't been friends for very long at all. However, it was long enough to determine that Sasuke liked Hinata, and somewhere in the deep recesses of his heart, he did consider her his friend.

While that was all well and good, Neji's recent instability was what worried Gaara most of all. The Hyuga didn't bother hiding his blatant desire to retrieve Hinata, and, if possible, make mince-meat out of the demon that took her. That kind of emotional instability could lead to Hinata getting hurt, and Gaara doubted that Neji knew that.

Bypassing the dining room and library, Sasuke finally made to turn into the music room. Veering left after entering the room, Sasuke found a reclusive spot to lean against the wall. Following his lead, Gaara turned right and chose to lean into a corner that he found there, staying silent all the while.

Most of the group was present already and taking up space in the chairs provided. Temari, who had claimed a chair in the second row turned to gaze at her little brother. He nodded to her and she half-smiled in response before murmuring something to Shikamaru, who sat on her left.

Kankuro was lounging on his sister's right with both arms stretched out behind the chairs next to him; his attention, however, was riveted on Tenten, who was curled into his right side. Shino, Kiba, Choji and the three masters took up the first row of chairs, and the caretakers occupied half of the third row.

Lee, Sakura and Ino were sitting on the other half of the row, but the empty seat next to Ino gave away the fact that Naruto hadn't arrived yet. As if being summoned, Naruto entered the room, seeing Gaara first and greeting him with a bright smile and a strong handshake before running over to a disgruntled Sasuke and slapping his hand on his back. Sasuke merely elbowed the blonde away, but he didn't leave his best friend alone until Ino snapped at him to come sit down. Now, the only ones missing were the matriarch, patriarch, and…wait, where was the Hyuga? Still sulking in his room perhaps?

Outside the door, Jiraiya waited, but upon seeing Tsunade come his way, he immediately sighed with relief. "Took you long enough."

Tsunade glared at her partner, and when she stopped in front of him, both hands rested on her hips. "I had to make sure that Yukio stayed put. Lord Sarutobi knows everything and agreed to doing this, but he understands why I preferred to do this without him and his protégé."

Jiraiya nodded sagely. "This whole meeting could take a turn that we don't want Yukio to be around for yet."

"Exactly, which is why Lord Sarutobi insisted that he and Yukio stay behind, and let us handle it."

Jiraiya looked away from her, staring at the wall pensively. "This is not good, Tsunade. If what Neji was saying is true, then…" he sighed, looking back at her. "This isn't good at all."

"Speaking of Neji," Tsunade turned behind her, looking with impatience. "Where is that boy?"

On cue, Neji turned down the hallway, walking sedately towards the two, and while he appeared calm, the way his muscles tensed with every step he took belied a sense of trepidation. Not to mention, he kept his gaze focused on the ground as he walked and didn't look up until he had reached his elders.

Tsunade gave him a serious look before motioning to the music room door. "Go take a seat."

Neji merely nodded before bowing his head and walking inside with the patriarch and matriarch following after him.

The Hyuga ignored whatever looks came his way, and when he settled into a seat at the edge of the back row, he contented himself by still staring at the ground. He hoped that anyone would dismiss his behavior as him just grieving over his lost deity, when in reality, he felt guilt at how he let it come to this.

He was curious as to whether or not he would be alive at the end of the meeting, knowing that Sasuke and Gaara would be none too pleased about what he had done. Neji's only relief came in believing that all his efforts would pay off, Hinata would be retrieved and brought back to the temple's safety net.

Tsunade and Jiraiya took their places at the front of the room, not wasting any time before speaking. The blonde, of course, began the proceedings. "I'm sure you're all wondering why you're here. As it turns out, we've recently come into some new information about Hinata's disappearance."

While most of the room sat forward with interest, Sasuke gave Gaara a dry look, as if to say "told you so". Gaara didn't react, and instead, focused his attention back onto the matriarch.

Jiraiya cleared his throat. "A witness came forward, saying that Hinata was indeed taken…" he paused before speaking again, as if he himself couldn't believe it. "By a demon."

A few pairs of eyes widened, but it was Sakura's arm that was thrown up first, though she didn't wait to start speaking. "What about the barrier?"

Tsunade shook her head. "Hard to say, Sakura. As far as we know, it still works, since besides Hinata's kidnapping, we haven't been attacked." She saw Sakura open her mouth, so she cut her off. "Yes, I know that also means that the demons might just be waiting to attack later, but whatever the case may be, we're working to get prepared for it. Right now, we're just going to inform you of what we know before we start talking battle strategies. Jiraiya,"

The older man nodded. "It has also come to our attention that this demon was identified as Itachi Uchiha."

Seeming synchronized, both Sasuke and Gaara stiffened in surprise, their eyes widening at what had just come out of the patriarch's mouth.

_How did they find out? _Was Gaara's first thought.

Sasuke couldn't believe it either, but all he managed to do was mutter a string of curses beneath his breath. That was before he noticed Kakashi glancing back at him to gauge his reaction. The gray-haired master probably assumed that Sasuke would be blowing up at this point, but he was surprised to see Sasuke somewhat calm—well, _calmer _than expected.

Now, while the masters and caretakers unhappily recognized the name, most of the younger crowd just seemed confused. Naruto gulped and managed to look back at Sasuke in concern, while the four deities exchanged confused glances. The guardians and security force didn't seem as knowledgeable either, minus Neji, Sasuke, Gaara, and Naruto, of course.

The initial confusion began to wane when Shikamaru was the first to notice one crucial detail. "Wait a minute, did you just say Itachi _Uchiha_?"

Tsunade didn't dare nod, but she didn't have to, seeing that others were starting to see the correlation that Shikamaru had so kindly pointed out.

"Uchiha…? But," Sakura turned in her chair to look at Sasuke with her brows furrowed. The young man seemed uncaring when he returned her gaze. "That's Sasuke's last name…" she whispered.

When more eyes began to start staring at him, Sasuke bristled with irritation before finally snapping. "What?" When no one said anything, he rolled his eyes before a sardonic smirk graced his features. "Confused? Let me clear it up for you. Itachi Uchiha is my demon half-brother. Satisfied?"

Ino gulped loudly. "Half-brother. But that would mean that you're…" she trailed off.

Empty black eyes snapped to her, his smirk becoming almost sinister. "A half-demon."

Three of the deities paled at hearing his confession, their lips turning as frightfully white as their skin.

Feeling irritated again, Sasuke snarled. "Stop looking at me—I'm not the only half-demon here."

Gaara raised a brow and turned to stare at Ino, Sakura, and Tenten. "I am one, as well."

"What?" Tenten screeched out, her eyes widening further before snapping her gaze to Kankuro. "You knew this?"

Kankuro chuckled nervously. "Of course, he's my brother."

Tenten started to shake. "Does that mean that you're—"

"No, no, no, no, no," Kankuro leaned toward her in an act of comfort. "I'm completely human, babe. Temari and I had a different father than Gaara, that's all."

It was at that point that Sakura turned to Lee, noticing that he and the others didn't seem very shocked by the news. "Did you know about this?" she asked him with an accusing tone.

Lee smiled shakily. "Well, yes, but we have all known about them for a couple years now, my love."

"What?!" Sakura practically yelled in outrage. "No one's bothered to tell the deities about any of this? You've all kept us in the dark?"

"Not all the deities," Shikamaru interrupted calmly. "Temari and Hinata were aware of it."

This time, all three of the deities yelled out in fury. "What!"

Naruto winced, not too happy about where this conversation had led. He hadn't exactly broken the news to Ino yet about what he was, but now that Gaara and Sasuke had admitted it, it meant that he would have to as well. He had been backed into a corner.

Why did it have to come to this? Telling her in a room full of people was not what he had planned for the big confession. Privacy for the two was what he had been aiming for, but he had already been pretty much outed without any warning.

"You!" Ino suddenly turned on him, breaking into his train of thoughts. "You knew about this, but you didn't tell me?"

He saw the hurt in her eyes and inwardly panicked. "Ino…you don't think it's that bad, do you?"

"Of course it's bad!" she seemed to be having a panic-attack of her own. "We've been told our entire lives that demons are bad news, and then we find out that we've been living with two half-demons almost all our lives?! Yes, that's bad!"

"Three,"

"What?"

Naruto gulped, not looking at her. "Three. There are three half-demons living here."

Ino frowned. "Who's the third?" When he looked up at her in silence, a sad smile on his tanned face to match his sad blue eyes, she knew. Her mouth opened in a silent gasp before tears welled up in her eyes, her body automatically backing away from him. "No…you're not…you can't be, I would've known—surely, I would've sensed it or something, I…"

Her eyes dried as she shook her head in a type of denial. Before Naruto could say anything to her, she had stood up and stalked out of the room. He stood up to follow her, but her voice rang out as if she already knew what he was doing. "Don't follow me!"

The blonde sat back down in his chair looking for all the world like a kicked puppy. Silently, Sakura got up and followed after her friend. Of the deities, only Temari and Tenten remained, and an awkward silence reigned supreme in the room, no one daring to speak for a while.

"Naruto, why don't you go ahead," Tsunade motioned to the door that Ino had departed out of. "We'll fill you in on the details later."

Naruto nodded and left the room in a hurry, determined to make it alright with his girlfriend. He didn't blame her reaction, since he had, after all, kept a huge secret from her and broken her trust in the process.

As sad as her reaction made him, he wasn't going to lose her, which was why he ended up storming down the halls towards her room.

Back in the music room, however, it was still silent until Kakashi half-heartedly raised his hand. "As interesting as that was, I think we should get back to this whole Itachi Uchiha business. My first question, of course, is how can we trust this witness as a reliable source? Do we even know who he or she is?"

With slight hesitation, Neji stood. "That would be me. I'm the witness." Within seconds, every pair of eyes turned toward him, and it made him sympathize with how Sasuke must have felt just moments before. With that in mind, Neji chanced a glance at Gaara and the Uchiha.

It made Neji almost flinch at the looks he was being given by them. Sasuke curled his lip at him in disgust, but Gaara looked absolutely murderous. It made Neji wonder if Gaara regretted not killing him when he had the chance. Judging by the green fury in the redhead's eyes, Neji guessed correctly.

By "betraying" Hinata, he had effectively made an enemy out of Sasuke and Gaara, which wasn't exactly a good thing, but Neji wasn't going to let that faze him; at least, not at the moment.

Both Gaara and Sasuke couldn't help but scowl at the Hyuga when he simply glared at them before turning his attention back to the rest of the room.

Asuma rubbed his hand over his chin as he eyed Neji. "What did you see exactly? I mean, how did you even know that it was Itachi?"

"I didn't at first, but Yukio confirmed it for me." Thus began the lies. Neji planned to stick as close to the actual events as possible, but if he wanted to preserve Hinata's reputation, he was going to have to tweak some of the minor details.

"And you saw her get taken?" Kurenai asked.

"Yes, but there was nothing I could do. He was too fast." Neji could tell that those who knew Itachi would definitely agree with that, but he wasn't done with the interrogation just yet.

Anko spoke next. "When did it happen?"

"After everyone had gone to bed. I had an argument with Hinata after dinner, and an hour later, I decided to go see her so that we could resolve it, but when I walked into the room, I saw the demon leave with her. She was unconscious."

Most of them nodded, showing that they believed him. Although, he was sure that if he were to look back at Sasuke and Gaara, he would see even more of their anger and disgust. Luckily, they wouldn't say anything about it, since unlike Neji, they weren't going to betray any information about Hinata.

Neji had been counting on their silence and couldn't have been more relieved than he was at the moment.

Temari's sarcastic chuckle sounded, interrupting the interrogation. "Okay, so somehow a demon manages to get through our demon-proof barrier and avoid the eyes of security all just to steal Hinata away." She laughed humorlessly. "Why? I don't get it. Why Hinata? If this was for some type of ransom or threat, why take Hinata and not one of us other deities? Was it completely random, or was she chosen for a reason?"

Tsunade nodded. "I thought about that, too. The only reason I can come up with is that Hinata was the least likely one to put up a fight or struggle. The rest of you deities have formidable attacks, but Hinata's is completely supportive. She may have learned how to fight, but assuming that she had been asleep, she was hardly in the right mind to fight off a demon, especially Itachi Uchiha."

Jiraiya shook his head. "Even if she had been awake enough to attack him, Itachi is too skilled. He wouldn't have let her scream, much less graze him with an attack."

"Which leads back to the question," Anko interrupted. "Why? What motive do they have for taking her? If it was a hostage situation, wouldn't we have been told about it by now? Demons are hardly known for their patience, so if that was the case, they would've made their intentions known by now."

"True," Shino intoned, his low voice quiet and calm, but strong enough to draw everyone's attention to him. "There are too many factors, and not enough information. I do not believe Hinata is dead, however."

Kiba nodded his agreement. "Shino's right. If her death was what they were after, they would've just killed her in her bed for us all to see in the morning. They want something from her."

Temari turned around to look at Neji, glaring at him with annoyance. "Why didn't you bring any of this up sooner?"

He glared back at her. "Because I had planned to take care of it myself. But after hearing a little more about Itachi Uchiha, a solo mission doesn't seem too smart."

Kakashi leveled his gaze at Neji. "He would've killed you before you even knew you were in danger."

Neji glared to the side, his hands clenching at his sides, but he did not argue with the master.

For the first time, Gai spoke up, his tone emitting an abnormal seriousness. "What are we going to do?"

Tsunade bit her lip and Jiraiya shook his head. Eventually, it was the patriarch who finally answered. "This is a very dangerous situation, which means we're going to need to exercise extreme caution. Sasuke, if there's anything else you can tell us about Itachi, now would be a good time."

Sasuke didn't look too thrilled, but he nodded his agreement.

"And Shikamaru," Jiraiya turned to the lazy young man. "We could use your help most of all."

The young strategist grunted. "Troublesome."

* * *

As it turned out, Itachi and Hinata didn't end up leaving the clearing until later in the afternoon, but both were too content and satiated to care—Itachi most of all. He had been in quite a temper ever since Kisame had showed up the previous day, and it had only worsened after their argument.

As Hinata watched him currently, she smiled at his leisurely strides and the utter tranquility on his normally expressionless face. Not just that, but he hadn't stopped touching her—not that she minded since she couldn't stop touching him either.

They had brushed against each other as they walked so many times that eventually, Hinata just reached over and grasped onto his hand. In response, he had smirked and eyed her with amusement, but didn't pull his hand away.

While they did not talk much, their touches could always speak volumes.

"Are we close to Iwa?" Hinata had asked sometime later.

"We will reach the border before tomorrow evening," he smirked to himself. "Assuming we don't get distracted, that is."

She caught the teasing glint in his red eyes and it made her blush and bite her lip to hold in her giggle. "I'll try not to distract you," she teased, though a part of her was embarrassed to say it.

Itachi chuckled deep in his throat, a low sound that made her shiver pleasurably. "Impossible. You're distracting me now."

Her blush reddened even further before she finally did release a giggle. "I'm sorry,"

"You don't seem sorry, but…" His smirk widened, revealing sharp canines just before he stepped in front of her lithely, his hands falling to rest on her waist. "If you're truly sorry, then you'll fix it." One knuckle glided down her cheek and his lips soon followed. "Iwa can wait."

"But…" Hinata gulped, dropping her pack to the ground. "You were in such a rush to get there,"

He left a trail of kisses back up her neck and over her jaw before brushing against her mouth. "What's one more day?" When he felt her smile against his lips, he crushed her against his body, possessing her lips as if it was the first time all over again.

Hinata was thoroughly enjoying herself until Itachi's head suddenly snapped up and his hold tightened on her, his gaze turning to the forest behind her. Being mated to him, she could sense his hostility, and one look at the alert aggressiveness on his face confirmed it. "Itachi?" she whispered.

"Shh," and then in a growl, "Stay here."

Hinata stumbled back a bit when he was suddenly no longer holding her. In fact, he had disappeared from her vision completely, and the entire situation made cold fingers of fear grip around her heart, though she didn't know why.

Leaving Hinata behind, Itachi sprinted through the trees before coming to a halt not too long after. Appearing calm and unbothered, he walked casually through the forestry until he came upon a break in the trees, which led directly to his target, or rather, targets.

A pair of bright green eyes landed on the red-eyed demon, one brow raised in surprise. "Uchiha,"

"Kakuzu," Itachi greeted in a drawl before turning to the other demon present. "Hidan,"

"Heh," The amethyst-eyed demon smirked. "What the hell are you doin' here? Thought you were on 'vacation'?"

Itachi didn't react in any manner; he simply eyed them both with an uncaring attitude. "Did you not sense me nearby?"

"Tch," Hidan replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "Like we have the fucking time to be sniffing around for our buddies. That Madara's a fucking slave driver." He glared off to the side in bitterness. "Heh, 'Leader's favorites', my ass."

Kakuzu, like Itachi, seemed to ignore Hidan's rambling. Instead, the tall demon inclined his head towards the Uchiha. "I sensed you nearby, although…you're not quite alone, are you?"

Itachi simply looked at him.

The demon laughed lowly. "Is she the deity we've been hearing so much about?"

Hidan returned to the conversation almost immediately. "Yeah, what's this we hear about you stealing a deity? I fucking knew you Uchiha demons were crazy as shit, but carting off with a deity is a little much, don't ya think?"

Narrowing his eyes, Itachi ignored the question, and instead asked one of his own. "Why are you in this area?"

Hidan snorted. "For shits and giggles,"

Kakuzu rolled his eyes at his partner before turning to Itachi to explain. "We're fulfilling a mission. We have to pass through this area to get to Oto."

"Orochimaru's old stomping grounds," Itachi murmured for clarification, to which the green-eyed demon simply nodded. "Why?"

"Lord Madara has a proposition for the Kaiju."

"Yeah, and _we_ have to be the fuckin' messengers."

Itachi's suspicion was obvious as he looked at the two, trying to contemplate why Madara would want anything to do with the Kaiju creatures, which were Orochimaru's old experiments-gone-wrong.

Back when Orochimaru, a snake demon, had been working for Madara, he had experimented on a variety of species, trying to create new, more powerful species that could possibly even trump the demon race. Madara had enlisted the snake demon to create for him an army of creatures to use against the humans in the inevitable war.

Unfortunately, Orochimaru and his apprentice Kabuto were killed by demon hunters long ago. In fact, if Itachi remembered correctly, the two demons had been killed by none other than the infamous Tsunade and Jiraiya. Before his death, however, Orochimaru had managed to capture hundreds of humans on which to experiment.

Mixing demon DNA with the humans had finally resulted in what other demons referred to as the Kaiju. They were abominable creatures, neither human nor demon, and while they were not powerful or even that strong, they made up for it in numbers. It had seemed impossible, but the creatures had somehow retained the ability to reproduce, which made them formidable only in groups.

As far as Itachi knew, the creatures held no loyalties to anyone or anything other than themselves. Having only minimal intellect, the creatures lived on the most basic of needs—eat, sleep, and reproduce. They were also completely blind, which made their other senses incredibly strong, and as if that wasn't enough, they had a special taste for human flesh.

Orochimaru had created them to be adversaries to the human race, so he had engrained into them an uncontrollable hunger for human blood, so if they were to smell a human nearby, they would stop at nothing until they had killed and eaten the poor soul.

To all demons, the Kaiju were annoying at best and not threatening unless they happened to have a human with them…which Itachi did.

On that note, he had to ask. "Are they far from here?"

Kakuzu smirked, inwardly knowing why he was asking. "As long as your little deity stays away from Oto, she should be fine."

Speaking of deity, Itachi tensed at sensing her coming his way. Sure enough, she came walking past the trees not a moment later, obviously looking for him. He could've throttled her on the spot.

In Hinata's defense, she had waited for Itachi to return, thinking that some type of danger was nearby. However, now that she was mated to him, she was able to sense that he wasn't aggressive or hostile anymore; in fact, he was completely calm, which made her think that it would be alright to go look for him.

However, she wasn't expecting to see him talking to two other demons, both of whom made her freeze on the spot as soon as she laid eyes on them. She also couldn't miss the angered agitation coming from Itachi, knowing that it was directed at her, which was why she chose not to look over at him.

Both Kakuzu and Hidan were surprisingly silent as they stared at the deity, as if inwardly assessing what made her so appealing to the Uchiha. She had power, true, but she was still human, and last time they checked, Itachi hated the human race. It was with curiosity alone that they continued to gaze at her with open interest.

"Um," Hinata blushed in embarrassment, not knowing how to act around other demons. "Hello," she smiled awkwardly, thinking that if all else failed, be polite.

Two blank faces greeted her in return; that is, until Hidan pinched his brows together and blatantly pointed at her. "Who the fuck are you?"

Her eyes widened at his question, her shock resulting in a gulp before speaking. "I-I'm Hinata."

Then, as if a switch had been pushed, the white-haired demon smirked. "The name's Hidan, and the bastard next to me is Kakuzu. You must be the _deity _we've heard so much about."

Brows furrowing and fingers wringing nervously against her stomach, Hinata finally looked at Itachi with uncertainty.

Without even looking at her, he moved toward her, blocking half of her from their sight. "We'll be going now." He spoke in a monotone, disguising his inner stress at having her so close to other demons.

However, Kakuzu didn't miss the way Itachi's entire body had tensed so suddenly, and how he might have unknowingly started sending out a vicious warning to them both to stay away. It made the tanned demon smirk in amusement. "You need not worry about us, Itachi."

The red-eyed demon merely glanced at the other demon silently.

He elaborated. "Lord Madara has already warned us about her, ordering that anyone who harmed her would be punished, and by himself no less. If his threat wouldn't have worked, I assure you that the mark on her neck would have. Even _we _would not to make an enemy out of you."

"As reassuring as that is," Itachi muttered with a touch of sarcasm. "I'm still leaving."

Hinata stared on at the scene in confusion before she felt Itachi's hand wrap around her arm, pulling her back to where they came from. But before they had left completely, she glanced behind her only to meet eyes with the purple-eyed demon, who was smirking sadistically at her.

"See ya around, deity." He called out, his words being followed by a bark of mocking laughter.

And then the two demons were gone from her sight, which only led her to looking at her mated demon instead. "I'm sorry. I didn't know there were demons…"

Itachi wasn't looking at her when he seemed to scowl. "When I tell you to stay, then you stay."

"But they didn't seem to want to harm me,"

"That doesn't matter," he suddenly stopped walking, only to pull her roughly in front of him, his red orbs glaring intensely into her white ones. "Don't do that again."

"I'm sorry," she replied shakily, not being too fond of the moments when Itachi was furious with her. She gulped and her lower lip trembled. "I'll listen next time, I promise."

His expression softened at the same time that a sigh escaped his lips. He opened his mouth to speak, only to shut it shortly after, his jaw clenching with the motion. Finally, he simply reached his hand up to brush the back of his hand against the paleness of her face. "You didn't know…and you're right, they wouldn't have hurt you." His eyes narrowed. "I still don't want you around them, though."

"I understand," she gave him a small smile, hoping that he was no longer angry with her.

As Itachi continued to gaze upon her, he was beginning to recognize the emotion that ran through him every time she was near another demon. It was an emotion he had never felt before, so it had gone unacknowledged until now when he recalled that he had felt that same emotion from Hinata many times in the past.

It was fear.

It was hostile fear, but fear nonetheless, and he had felt it the moment she had walked in on his talk with Kakuzu and Hidan. Despite knowing that they wouldn't dare to get in between him and his mate, it didn't stop him from fearing for her safety.

And though he would never regret claiming her as his mate, it was proving to be detrimental to his state of calm…especially since he knew that Kakuzu and Hidan wouldn't be the last demons that they would encounter.

Lips against his cheek awoke him from his reverie, seeing Hinata's lips linger against his skin before she backed away, the pinch between her eyebrows showing concern. "Are you alright?"

Expression softening once again, a corner of his mouth tilted upward while his eyes shone with familiar amusement. "If I say no, what will you do to remedy that?"

She blushed at what he was insinuating before she smiled warmly and leaned up on her toes to kiss him. "What would you like me to do?" she murmured against his lips.

He pulled her closer to him until the front of her body was pressed tightly against his own. "You can distract me."

He was rewarded with her gentle laughter before it turned into something that he was much more intimately fond of.

* * *

Hours later, Itachi and Hinata had travelled enough before the sun had gone down, deciding to camp at the base of a mountain and nearby a stream. As soon as she had set up the bed and Itachi began working on the fire, Hinata went off to bathe in the stream, shivering at the cold temperature as she did so.

She finished hurriedly, already feeling her lips turning blue and bumps rising on her skin. As she dried herself, she couldn't help but miss the baths at the temple, and how they were always hot and relaxing…and clean. Even though she had brought shoes with her to bathe, it didn't stop the dirt from sticking to her feet, making her briefly wonder if there was a point to bathing outdoors if she was just going to get dirty all over again.

She supposed that it was just one of the prices she had to pay for choosing to be a part of Itachi's world, forsaking her comfortable home in the process. Though, it did make her giggle to herself at thinking that if she would've chosen to stay at the temple, it would've been for the baths. It made her giggle even more just to think about how Itachi would react to that.

Thank the Goddess for all those missions she had been on in the past, since it was because of those missions that she learned how to live outdoors. If she hadn't, these past couple days would've taken quite a toll on her.

Using the towel that she had brought along to dry herself, she wrapped it around her body and walked the couple yards back to their campsite, aiming for her knapsack of clothes. Itachi watched her for a second before going off to bathe himself now that the fire was roaring to life.

For what felt like a while, Hinata rummaged through her belongings, looking for her nightgown, panicking at the thought of having forgotten it at their last campsite.

Then she realized why it wasn't there.

Refusing to blush, she remembered that Itachi had practically torn it to shreds that morning in his endeavor to unclothe her. It made her groan inwardly, but smile at the same time, suddenly wondering why she didn't think to grab more than one of her nightgowns. Perhaps it was because she didn't have the foresight in regards to Itachi's demonic libido, and how far he would go to satisfy it.

He returned quickly, only wearing his pants and shoes, and the only indication that he had bathed was his damp, black hair clinging to parts of his face and neck. He was devastatingly handsome, and Hinata couldn't help but openly stare at him, thanking the Goddess for bringing him into her life. She didn't think Itachi would ever know how much she appreciated his attractiveness; in fact, she wondered if he even knew how attractive he was.

If she didn't force herself to look away soon, her heart would combust…or her face, whichever came first.

Having noticed that his mate still remained in a towel, he furrowed his brows before questioning her. "Are you planning on sleeping naked?"

A light blush dusted her cheeks before she looked away from him, her mouth turning into a small pout. "I might have to."

He raised a brow at her dejected tone, though he couldn't help but start to smirk.

She almost wanted to glare at him for looking so pleased at the thought of her having to sleep naked. "I only had one nightgown."

His other brow rose, obviously not understanding.

So, she frowned at him, her words coming out in a quiet grumble. "You destroyed it this morning."

His smirk grew into a smile just before he laughed in a way that made her heart race. When his laughter quieted, he was still smiling with pleasure. "What a pity."

She tried frowning again, but his smile was infectious, so she shook her head instead, trying to hide her smile from him. "I suppose I can just wear one of my gowns."

"I disagree," he murmured in a lilting tone as he approached her, stopping in front of her before tightening his fingers over the knot on her towel. He teasingly pulled at the knot, while his knuckles grazed against the tops of her breasts.

"Itachi!" she protested, enclosing her hands over his to keep him from disrobing her for the second or third (maybe fourth) time that day.

He only chuckled again, pulling her by the towel toward their bed. And just as she was about to protest again, he ripped the towel off of her body and immediately laid her down on the bed, resting himself just next to her.

"But—Itachi, wait,"

He pulled the blanket over them both, pulling her towards him in an embrace. "Relax, Hinata."

She quieted as she gazed at him gazing at her, keeping the blanket tucked around her modestly.

The action only managed to make Itachi's brow quirk in inquiry. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she answered quickly, averting her gaze elsewhere.

He began to smirk in amusement. "Does sleeping naked make you that uncomfortable?" he almost laughed at her quick blush. "Or, does being naked in front of me make you uncomfortable?"

Her brow furrowed, blush gone. "Both, I guess." She smiled humorlessly. "I guess I'm not used to all of this—_us_—yet."

"Mm," He was not angry; if anything, he was highly amused with her innocence, making him inwardly glad that she had not lost all of her innocence after being mated to him. "It would bother me if you _were _used to it."

She looked up at him in surprise. "Why?"

He held her closer to him so that her face was buried against his chest just as he rested his chin atop her head. "If you were used to it, then that would imply that you've done it many times before," he saw her flush. "Which I'm sure you haven't."

She bit her lip uncertainly. "It doesn't bother you?"

He resisted the urge to yawn and sighed instead, his breath fanning through her hair. "You are who you are, Hinata. I chose you as my mate, and that includes enjoying _all _of your little habits," He pressed his smiling lips against her forehead. "And I really do enjoy most of them." _But not all_. He added inwardly. Her penchant for worrying constantly was an annoying habit that he wished she would get rid of.

After all, she really had no need to worry all the time. Though, he supposed that she worried constantly, because she feared losing anyone close to her. And if that fear was as constant as it seemed to be, then that surely meant that she had at one time lost someone she cared for.

He didn't know who, and she had never brought it up, which only seemed to remind him that there were parts of her life of which he wasn't aware. Of course, there were centuries of his life that she didn't know about, either.

That would have to be fixed in time. As for the present…

Hearing Itachi's words made her almost instantly relax against him. She showed it in the way that she pressed her cheek against his bare chest, absently listening to the calm thudding of his heartbeat. "Itachi?"

"Hm?" he murmured, already half-asleep.

Her expression pinched pensively, as she considered her next question, remembering the words of that green-eyed demon. "Who is Lord Madara?"

His muscles tensed around her, making her look up at his face questioningly.

Itachi no longer appeared contently sleepy; rather, he opened his red eyes and stared down at Hinata. "Madara…is the leader of the demon race."

She blinked up at him. "The leader…Is he powerful?"

He rolled his eyes. "Annoyingly so. He's the oldest demon alive, an ancient. Rumor has it that he existed before the goddess became mortal, and he was at the forefront of both of the wars."

Eyes wide with disbelief, Hinata gulped. "He has always been the leader?"

"As far as I know, yes. He's also the progenitor of the Uchiha bloodline."

"He's an Uchiha?" That seemed to be the most shocking to her. "So…does that make him your grandfather?"

He snorted in distaste. "There's at least twenty generations between us, so if anything, he's my ancestor…and the first Uchiha to have ever existed."

"To have lived so long…" she muttered to herself. "Is he more powerful than you?" When Itachi remained silent, she took that as an affirmative, one that he wasn't wanting to admit. "Will I ever have to meet him?"

His eyes snapped to hers, revealing an intensity that was quite different from his normal intensity that she was used to. "I'd like to avoid it, but it's inevitable that he will want to meet you…which is one reason why we're going to Kumo last." He paused, brows furrowing in thought before meeting her gaze warningly. "When we do arrive in Kumo, you will meet him, but other than that, I don't want you anywhere near him, understood?"

Sensing the danger in his words, she gulped before nodding. "I understand."

* * *

"Ino!" Naruto yelled, pounding on her bedroom door yet again. "Let me in so we can talk!"

"Go away, Naruto!" she yelled back.

"No way am I going anywhere before I talk to you! If I have to break down this door, Ino, I will!" When she didn't respond, he hardened his expression. "Fine, here I go! One, two—" the door opened, but the face that greeted him wasn't the one he was hoping for. "Sakura—"

"Shut up, Naruto." The pink-haired woman silenced him, edging out into the hallway to join him, making sure to close the door behind her. Once it became just them, she stood resolutely in front of her best friend's door, arms crossed over her chest like a soldier on guard duty.

"I need to see her," Naruto tried to push past her, but she kept him at arm's length.

"I know."

"Then, let me see her!" he whined with frustration.

"In a moment, but for right now…" she looked at him, determination shrinking away into sympathy. "You need to get your head straight before you just barge in there and kill each other, because I swear to the Goddess, Naruto, that if—hey! Naruto!" He had somehow side-swiped her more gracefully than she thought capable, and squeezed into the room behind her.

Just as she was about to grab him, he gave her a sad smile. "Sorry, Sakura," And, then he closed the door, locking it shortly after.

She stood there with wide eyes and an irritated expression before finally sighing in resignation. "Those two…" she shook her head before looking at the bedroom door hopefully, sending a prayer up to the Goddess before departing to look for her boyfriend and guardian.

"Naruto…!" Ino exclaimed in surprise, her reddened eyes widening at the sight of him while she proceeding to back away from him. "Get out!"

"No," He replied back without hesitation, his gaze both pleading and resilient.

She threw a pillow towards him, followed by another and another. "Get out! Get out!" He either dodged or caught them, flinging them to the side carelessly, his entire attention focused on her.

"We need to talk, Ino."

"I don't want to talk to you—you lied to me!"

"I didn't lie to you! I just…" his blue eyes lowered to the ground. "I just didn't tell you, and I'm sorry that I didn't, but I knew how you'd react, and I didn't want to lose you, but I guess I'm going to no matter what I say…"

She listened to his rambling, her body still quaking with stressful rage originating from hurt. "What do you mean you'd knew how I'd react? Exactly how did you think I'd react, Naruto?"

"Like you are now!" he yelled back. "I don't blame you for hating me now that you know what I am, but I was hoping you'd at least hear me out first before you start pretending like I don't exist!"

"Are you kidding me?" She was just as furious as him. "You think I'm mad because you're a half-demon?"

"Well, yeah," he said it as if it was obvious. "You said it yourself how bad it was."

"It's definitely something I'll have to adjust to, but that doesn't mean I hate you because of it. And I'm not mad for you being whatever you are, but I am _pissed _that you obviously didn't trust me enough to tell me all these years!" she paused to catch her breath. "Hinata and Temari knew before your own girlfriend did! Do you know how screwed up that is? It's like I wasn't important enough to tell your secret to, and all that tells me is that it's because you didn't trust me. I'm good enough to have sex with, but Goddess forbid me being good enough to trust—"

In one stride, he had reached her, cupping his hand over her mouth, only to see that underneath the layer of fury in her blue eyes was something much more vulnerable. She was hurt. He had hurt her by not telling her the truth.

Showing regret, he wrapped his other arm around her back, pulling her against him so that she wouldn't struggle to get free, and so that she would listen to him. "I'm so sorry, Ino. I…I was so afraid to tell you, because I thought you'd turn your back on me. When I was growing up, most people who knew what I was shunned me for it, treated me like I was a monster, and I didn't want to see that look in your eyes. I didn't want you to hate me or fear me…I was terrified that you wouldn't love me anymore—ow!"

She yanked her face after biting his hand so that she could speak, her gaze still angry. "Give me some credit! You must think I'm really fickle, huh? What an idiot."

"Huh?"

She pushed at his chest, not stopping until he had backed away from her. "Go away, Naruto. I _really _don't want to talk to you right now, okay?"

He was about to refuse until he noticed her shaky voice and her eyes filling with tears before she roughly turned around so that he wouldn't see.

Face crumpling in shamed sadness, he trudged back toward her bedroom door, feeling like he had really lost her, and it was all his fault. Though, just before he closed the door behind him, he glanced at her over his shoulder. "I love you, Ino."

More tears threatened to roll down her cheeks, but nothing was released until she heard the door close with finality. Only then did she start sniffling and wiping at her wet eyes, the pain in her chest not ceasing.

Ino did not cry herself to sleep that night; she absolutely refused to do that. However, as she laid in bed, staring at nothing, she thought back on their conversation, err, argument. She kept trying to break it down in her mind, working through his words and meanings, trying to discover what she couldn't see while in a furious haze.

She was so angry with him, and if she were willing to admit it, she was a little angry with herself, too. They both had let their emotions get out of hand, and while that was normal for them, it didn't feel so normal this time. It had left her with a sour taste in her mouth and a clenching pain in her chest every time she remembered the aching sadness she had seen in Naruto's eyes.

Apparently, they had totally misunderstood each other, and she knew that. They had been angry and hurt for different reasons; he because he thought she would be disgusted with his true self, and her because he had broken her trust.

That left her with two choices: forgive him, or end it.

For the past who knew how many minutes, she thought over what she needed or wanted to do. She loved Naruto, but didn't want to be with someone who couldn't trust her. So, what did that mean for their relationship?

She was too angry to be thinking about this right now!

"_Be sure of yourself, and be sure of the love and trust you have for those around you…"_

Amaterasu had told her that not too long ago in what felt like a dream. Ino didn't know why Amaterasu's warning was running through her mind at the moment, but it was.

"_Your love and trust will be tested in the future, and should you fail…you will end up losing someone one you love very much, and you will lose them forever."_

Ino quickly sat up in bed, her hands clenching into fists in her lap. Had Amaterasu been talking about Naruto after all? Had the warning been about this moment, this argument and breach of trust?

"_You will end up losing someone you love very much…"_

Would she lose Naruto?

"_You will lose them forever."_

If she turned her back on him now, would that be it? He'd be out of her grasp forever?

Her hands clenched even tighter as her teeth grit together. "No way."

The stars were beautiful that night, though Naruto wasn't truthfully taking much notice of them. Despite staring up at the night sky, all Naruto did was lay on top of his balcony railing, arms crossed under his head, one knee bent upright and the other leg swinging off the side. He couldn't stop thinking about Ino.

A creak sounded in the air, alerting him to someone entering his room. He turned his head curiously only to sit up when he noticed the blonde-haired deity walking toward him. "Ino,"

"Hey," she greeted mutely, continuing her walk until she was facing him from a couple feet away.

"What are you…"

"Look, Naruto, I need to tell you something, so just listen to me, okay?"

He jumped off the balcony railing, standing up straight, though his body was tense and nervous. "I'll listen."

She nodded once. "We need to get one thing straight between us." She even held up her index finger as further emphasis. "If you can't trust me, then our relationship doesn't exist. I know you were afraid to tell me, but that's what love and trust are for. Do you love me, Naruto?"

No hesitation. "Definitely."

"Do you trust me?"

He smiled. "With my life."

She let out a breath of relief. "Do you promise that from now on, no matter what it is or how you might think I'll react to it, you'll tell me these things?"

He stepped toward her, desperate emotion clinging to his expressive blue eyes. "I promise,"

"Okay, then," she nodded, placing her hands on her hips.

"So…" He rubbed the back of his head uncertainly. "You're not leaving me?"

"Ha!" she scoffed, smirking arrogantly. "It's gonna take more than you being a half-demon to get rid of _me_." her smirk transformed into a soft smile. "I'm not going anywhere. I love you, Naruto."

The tension evaporated from his body at the same time that moisture built up in his eyes, a watery laugh following afterward. "Ino…" he laughed more soundly before sweeping her up into his arms, swinging her around in happiness.

Not able to help herself, she laughed as well, wrapping her arms around his neck in a show of love that they both understood and accepted.

* * *

**Ah, some good old-fashioned NaruIno fluff. Anyway...**

**In case you were wondering where the hell I've been, I can promise you that I haven't been unproductive. Despite my job being a constant hindrance to my free time, I have spent as much of that time outlining my future chapters, which will make it much easier for me to write.**

**So, while I was on my temporary hiatus, I have outlined the next five chapters, which depending on length, might turn into a lot more. Classes will be starting up again soon, so I will try to type out as much as I can until then. On that note, I will not take time to edit my chapters, so please excuse any grammatical errors on my part. They will be fixed at a later time.**

**Stayed tuned for the next chapter of Divinity, and thank you all so much for sticking with me after all these years!**

**Special thanks to GrimmieLock and kunoichi007 for the wonderful Divinity art, the links to both posted on my profile for all to see and admire!**

**Thank you all again,**

**Tranquilwriter**


	33. Stone

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**AGE REMINDER: Rookie Nine—18, Neji, Tenten, Lee—19, Kankuro—20, Temari—21**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XXXII**

**Stone**

* * *

"_Danger – if you meet it promptly and without flinching – you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!"_

_Winston Churchill_

"_Reality is merely an illusion, although a very persistent one."_

_Albert Einstein_

* * *

A relieved breath fell from her lips. "Is this…?"

Itachi nodded. "We have entered Iwa."

A smile broke across her face as she looked over the barren, rocky terrain, which was so different than the forestry she was used to seeing. Mountains lined the horizon, gigantic monuments standing the test of time, each one sporting different colors of green, brown, red, gray, and yellow. It was gorgeous.

Itachi watched her in amusement as he hiked ahead, motioning toward something to their right. "I assume you would find that much more interesting."

Following his pointed hand, she could feel her jaw dropping and eyes widening as speech seemed to leave her completely. As if the distant mountains hadn't captured her attention enough, just to their right was a cliff, and beyond that cliff was a canyon that made her knees go weak.

Somehow, she managed to almost run toward the cliff edge to get a better view of the vast scenery before her, and as her eyes grazed over it, she was left nearly breathless at the sight.

The beauty of it simply couldn't be described; she had a difficult time just trying to comprehend the magnificence of what she was seeing. Eventually, she managed a whispered, "Oh…"

Itachi chuckled under his breath at her dumbfounded reaction. "We'll be walking alongside the canyon until we get to the border of Taki, which will be one more stop away from Kiri." He paused, wondering if she was even listening to him. "The journey will take at least a couple of weeks."

Hinata finally turned to him, asking about the only part she seemed to pay attention to. "We'll be able to walk alongside it the whole time?" her soft voice rang with excitement.

Resisting the urge to either roll his eyes or laugh, he simply nodded in answer to her question. "However, we need to walk a little more before we can camp for the night—"

"Okay!" she exclaimed, already walking alongside the canyon edge, her eyes rarely leaving the sights just next to her.

Itachi made it a point to stay next to her the entire time, his hand twitching constantly with every step she made, knowing that her attention was on the canyon rather than ensuring that she didn't fall off the cliff. If this woman didn't end up killing herself, she sure as hell was going to get him killed.

After an hour of walking and more than five instances where she had nearly walked right off the edge, Itachi's grip on her arm started to become a permanent fixture, though she obviously was too busy sight-seeing to notice.

It wasn't until the sun had started to set that Itachi decided to make camp for the night. Hinata had managed to take her eyes away from the canyon long enough to help him. She set up the bed while he prepared the fire, and once he was done, she immediately began on making their dinner, which consisted of some of the last meat they had.

Itachi made a mental note to hunt soon.

While the canyon had indeed captured her attention for the duration of the day, she could no longer marvel at it when night had fallen, hiding itself from her sight. Although, the smile on her face showed that the excitement of the day hadn't left her just yet, and that managed to make Itachi almost smirk at the thought.

While he knew that she had been sheltered most of her life, and had never seen places like Iwa or Kiri, it still surprised him to see so much innocent wonder and awe on her face after seeing something that he had seen multiple times in his life. He supposed that if he cared a little more, it might actually humble him.

Though, he couldn't help his ego swelling at how well he had pleased his mate, even if it was something as simple as a canyon. Amidst his thoughts, it only took one second for his good mood to evaporate, though he showed no outward sign of it. The only indication came in the form of his eyes narrowing.

Hinata hummed to herself as she cooked, her elation from the day not ceasing just yet. That is, until she heard a strange sound coming from the canyon. It was faint and barely noticeable, but ominous enough for her to pay attention to. She turned toward the darkness of the canyon, as if she could see what was making the noise, but she saw nothing and the sound wasn't constant enough for her to decipher its origins.

What she could make out, however, was that it reminded her of the sound of rocks sliding against each other. It wasn't loud at all, and could almost blend in with the other sounds of the night, but it simply didn't sound that natural. _What is that?_

She looked at Itachi to see if he noticed it, too, only to realize that he had silently moved next to her, his mere presence calming her. "Itachi?"

"Don't let it bother you." He remarked, referring to the nearly silent sounds. "Nothing will touch you."

"What is it?" she asked, whispering, though she briefly wondered why.

"Lower class demons who do their best hunting at night. They've sensed me and are staying away, so don't worry about it."

She nodded and furrowed her brows. "Were they going to come over here?"

"We're in their territory, so they were coming to investigate until they sensed me. They may be weak demons, but they know better than to challenge demons like me, so they will stay away. I doubt you'll even see them while we travel."

"Do they come out during the day?" she questioned, wondering if they were nocturnal or something.

"Yes, but they camouflage themselves well with their surroundings. Essentially, they're rock demons, and the sounds you hear are them simply moving."

"Oh," she bit her lip, unable to decide if she should be nervous about it or not.

As if sensing her worry, Itachi sighed in aggravation before taking her chin into his hand and turning her to face him. "Like I said, Hinata, they will not touch you."

The way his red eyes gleamed dangerously told her that if anything did touch her, it would not end well.

* * *

Early the next morning, Kakashi trudged into the matriarch's office, taking note of the group that seemed to have been waiting for him. Asuma regarded the gray-haired man, smiling wryly. "Better late than never, eh Kakashi?"

Kakashi merely chuckled. "Sorry I'm late; I guess I took a wrong turn somewhere and got lost."

Tsunade glowered. "Just get in here already so we can begin." At that, she looked over the room seeing everyone present. To her right sat Lord Sarutobi and his successor, Yukio, and on her left stood Jiraiya with Anko just next to him. In front of her stood Asuma and Shikamaru, the latter one looking bored and distracted. Kakashi took up a position between Shikamaru and Yukio.

Shikamaru sighed. "Is this all?"

The blonde nodded. "This is everyone we need for now. I've already gone over the mission details with Lord Sarutobi and Yukio, and we have Shikamaru to thank for this next plan of action. Care to start, Shikamaru?"

His bored expression glanced around the room before shrugging. "My only idea was to involve espionage in order to locate Hinata. Since I don't know where or even how many demon camps are outside the village, it would be stupid to go around attacking them for information. Our best bet at this point is secrecy."

Jiraiya stepped forward. "This mission will consist of a four-man squad, the four being Kakashi, Asuma, Shikamaru and Anko. Your objective is to _discretely _track down Hinata's whereabouts, but you are not to attack unless absolutely necessary."

"Yeah," Shikamaru nodded. "At this point, our goal is to simply find out where she is and under what conditions she's being held captive. We also need to confirm that it is indeed Itachi Uchiha who captured her."

Tsunade stood, resting her weight on her hands, which were flattened onto her desk. "This mission is high-risk, which is why we're sending you four. I have a back-up team on standby should anything happen to you while you're out there. On that note, it is imperative that if we do not hear from you after the first thirty-two hours, we're going to assume that something went wrong and the back-up team will be sent to retrieve you."

Kakashi furrowed his brows. "Do we have any leads on where Hinata might be, or even what direction Itachi might have taken her?"

"Heh," Anko smirked. "I already got you covered, Kakashi. I did a little investigating last night, and based on what I found, it looks like they were heading in a north-north-westerly direction, which means they could heading anywhere between Iwa and Kumo."

Asuma scratched his chin. "In that case, we should head toward Oto until we can discover more tracks leading elsewhere."

"Agreed." Kakashi nodded. "When do we depart?"

"In two days at dawn." Tsunade answered.

It was at that point that Lord Sarutobi stood with the help of Yukio. When he talked, he addressed all of them. "I have the utmost confidence in you four, and hope to have good results from you soon. Konoha thanks you for your service."

Seeing that as a dismissal, the four squad members filed out of the room, but Asuma was stopped before he could exit completely. Turning around, he bowed respectfully to his father, the village leader. However, Sarutobi rested his hand on his son's shoulder before gazing at him seriously. "Be careful."

"I will, father." Asuma smiled before leaving, ensuring to himself that he spent some time with a certain dark-haired woman before he left.

* * *

As Itachi gathered his sword and prepared to leave, he glanced over the small camp that he and Hinata had set up the previous night. Since he had to hunt today, he told Hinata to keep the camp in place, saying that they wouldn't be doing any further traveling for the day.

She would be left at the camp while he hunted, and after warning her not to wonder off anywhere while he was gone, he surveyed any other danger that could possibly befall her. He recalled that the demons had continued to stay away, making absolutely no moves to go anywhere near him or her.

It was with that knowledge alone that he convinced himself she would be safe while he hunted. If the rock demons were smart, they'd stay away, which was what they had been doing for the past two days. Still…

He couldn't deny the _annoyance _he felt at…well, being away from her for who knew how long. Not being near her made him anxious, and knowing that the hunt would encompass his attention completely only managed to increase his anxiety. Call it paranoia, but he simply didn't want to leave her alone.

A sudden giggle pulled him from his thoughts, his vision clearing as he blankly turned to the little woman just before him. Mirth shone in her eyes, and after seeing his rising confusion, she giggled again. "What?"

"I'm sorry," a finger curled against her lips. "It's just…I've never seen you look like that before."

"Like what?"

"Like…you're in pain or something. It's funny." Her giggles faded into a soft smile. "It reminds me of someone I know. He always had that look on his face whenever he had work to do, always saying how troublesome it was…"

Itachi watched her trail off, seeing her reminiscent smile disappear as her brows knotted together pensively. He could tell that her thoughts had drifted to her temple family, and probably to how much she missed them. Not wanting to see that look on her face, he inched toward her before grasping her chin between his fingers, lifting her face toward him. Gently, he kissed her, a mere pressing of their lips together.

When he backed away, his eyes were warm and reassuring. "I'll be back soon."

Her smile returned, as small as it was. "Okay,"

* * *

While she waited for her mate to return, she kept herself busy by going through their supplies, trying to determine what to make for their next meal. Taking advantage of the lack of food, she rummaged through the surrounding areas for anything edible, coming up with mostly herbs.

Kneeling on the ground with the herbs spread before her, she thought about her temple family, taking time to remember each of their faces.

She thought of Gaara first, remembering his seemingly cold expressions and gravelly voice, but also his unconditional kindness that he had showed to her on more than one occasion. That led her to think about Temari, sending a prayer to the Goddess that her friend was doing well. She hoped that Shikamaru was enough to keep her happy and well looked after.

Black eyes flitted through her thoughts at that point, reminding her of Sasuke and how, even in the brief time they had gotten to know each other, he had become one her greatest supports. He helped her become strong and learn to fight for herself and what she wanted. Of course, he always did it in the most condescending way possible, but…

A familiar, but ominous sound reached her ears, derailing her thoughts. She looked around the campsite, not seeing anything out of place, despite hearing rocks grinding together. After a minute, no other sounds followed, leading her to wonder if she had imagined it.

"Hm," Brows furrowed, she gathered the herbs, placing them near the other ingredients, taking time to once again sort them out.

Then, it sounded again, though this time, it was closer.

Snapping her attention to the nearby cliff-edge, where she was sure she heard the noise, she saw nothing, no movement whatsoever. She could've sworn it sounded _right there_.

She gulped before hearing it come from behind her, her gaze swiveling around only to find nothing once again.

The sounds were getting closer, and it seemed they were all around, but nothing was there. As her eyes continued to shift restlessly, she shakily stood, fearing that she might be in danger. What perfect timing, considering Itachi's absence.

Apparently, the demons thought so too.

All at once, different parts of the rocky ground crumbled together, splitting apart and joining again as some type of body forms emerged from the ground itself. Stone-like arms appeared over the cliff-edge, the limbs working to lift the remainder of the demon bodies over the ledge.

Finally, Hinata froze when she became aware that she was surrounded by rock demons. Although, while they appeared built out of stone at first, it eventually disappeared to reveal bodies just as human in appearance as hers.

Gulping again, she frantically tried to keep an eye on all of them at once. "What do you want?"

One of the demons stepped forward, his expression angry. "We want you gone. Humans do not belong in this world, and we _especially _do not want one in our territory."

"Please," she spoke, while trying to form a plan of action in her mind. "We'll leave as soon—"

"No," another demon stepped forward threateningly. "You will die now."

She only had enough time to widen her eyes before one of them charged her. On instinct alone, she dodged the demon's attack before crouching down and swiping her leg against the backs of his knees.

He collapsed in shock, the rest of the demons pausing as they realized that this human wasn't the defenseless creature she had seemed to be.

Hinata stood back up fluidly, immediately lowering herself into the familiar stance that had become her fighting style. All those months of training were not going to go to waste, even if it meant she had to stall them until Itachi arrived…which would hopefully be soon.

A female demon walked toward her, eyeing her curiously. "Interesting. The Uchiha's scent has almost covered it completely, but there's no doubt about it…She's a deity."

It was interesting how a single word made the other demons instantly edgy and suspicious, their earlier confidence turning into something more cautious.

The same female demon suddenly hardened her expression before barking out orders to her fellow demons. "The Uchiha will return soon. Deity or not, we need to kill her now!"

Inhaling sharply, Hinata managed to barely side-step a punch that had been seconds from connecting with her face. Not wasting time on hesitation or fear, she spun around, blocking and attacking where she could. Though, if she were to be honest with herself, this was a losing battle. She was only one human facing off against an entire _group _of demons.

She wasn't going to be able to defend herself forever.

Another gasp escaped her lips when her heel connected with the cliff-edge, finally realizing that all of their flurries of attacks had been gradually pushing her towards the canyon. A quick glance behind her was all the time it took for one demon to rush forward, sending a well-aimed kick to her side.

She coughed, feeling her body no longer being grounded. Rather, she was in the air, the canyon below her and the demons smirking down at her from above.

She was falling.

The sad thing was that she couldn't even scream, the free-falling fear was so great.

All she could do was panic inwardly.

* * *

Mid-hunt, Itachi sensed it; not just his mate's fear, but all of it, especially the fact that she was in danger.

Abandoning his prey, he sought another type of prey, running speedily back towards the campsite, the surrounding trees becoming a blur in his peripheral.

No other thoughts entered his mind, except for those concerning his deity. He entered the campsite quicker than the demons imagined, which was made present by the shock and horror on their faces.

Only one of the demons dared to approach him with cocky arrogance. "Looking for your little human? Sorry, but she took a little tumble into the canyon."

Ignoring the demon's chuckling, Itachi focused on his mate, trying to sense her, his heart thudding with a mixture of trepidation and agony. Relief came soon after, however. _She's alive._ Red eyes coolly regarded the demons in front of him. "Were you not aware who she is, or rather, who she belongs to?"

The same demon scoffed. "We could sense that she was your mate, but no matter what, humans do not belong in our world. You and Lord Madara are not demons if you think otherwise."

"Hm. I've clearly overestimated your intelligence. I assure you," he readied his sword by his side. "That won't happen again."

Screams saturated the air as the bloodbath began.

* * *

Breathing heavily, Hinata opened her eyes, seeing the miles of canyon just under her. Not wanting it to make her dizzy, she looked up at her hands gripping a branch of a tree that had grown out of the canyon side.

All too soon, the branch cracked before breaking entirely, sending her falling once again. "Oh no!" This time, she did scream only to grunt when her back collided painfully with what felt like a boulder.

Turning, she saw half of the female rock demon's body emerging from the wall, her stony arms having caught the falling deity. She smirked maliciously. "Still alive, eh? That's too bad, deity. Let's give it another try, shall we?"

Hinata wouldn't let her get the chance, for as soon as the words left the demon's mouth, Hinata elbowed her in the neck, using the momentum to add a solid kick to her stomach. As reckless as it seemed, it gave Hinata just the push she needed to reach a nearby slope that wasn't nearly as steep as the rest of the canyon wall.

Once she impacted with the loose dirt, she slid down, but not too fast to keep her from trying to think of a plan to reach the bottom of the canyon without dying.

An idea struck soon enough, forcing her to turn onto her stomach, digging her fingers into the dirt, not so much to slow her descent, but to pour energy into the ground. Glancing over her shoulder, she could see the end of the slope forming into a steep drop-off just over a hundred feet off the canyon floor. She didn't have much time.

Pouring even more energy into the ground, she focused on a single tree sprout that was already forcing its way through the rock and dirt, evolving just at the edge of the drop-off, but it wasn't growing fast enough.

Enough of it had grown so that she had something to grasp onto when she finally slipped over the edge, her body hanging by whatever strength she had left in her arm. She needed more to grab onto, more to support her weight, so she poured more and more healing energy into the tree, forcing it to grow beyond its years.

It was successful when a branch had grown thick enough to hold her weight, to which she immediately tried to lever herself upon it.

Meanwhile, Itachi surveyed the bloody ground before him, the bodies hardly distinguishable anymore, as there were more body _parts _than there were whole bodies. He barely blinked at the scene before running towards the cliff edge and jumping off with the grace and ease of only the strongest of demons. Whatever creature dared to get between him and his mate would not live long enough to ponder why it was such a bad idea. _Hold on, Hinata._

Hold on, she did, for it was really all she could do at the time. Too weak to pull herself up onto the branch, she ended up just hanging by it, her mind working on some type of way to get down without killing herself in the process.

Oh, and she also had a rock demon bent on killing her by any means necessary.

Speaking of whom…

The infuriated rock demon that was now sporting a bruised neck appeared halfway out of the canyon wall just next to her, the demon's eyes wanting revenge. "You'll pay for that, you stupid, human bitch!"

Hinata's eyes widened, knowing that there was nothing she could do to deflect an attack or even dodge it, save for falling to her death. Though, really, she was going to die anyway, right?

A dagger appeared in one of the female's hands, preparing it to strike. "You should thank me for this. Worse things than death have happened to humans who go where they don't belong. The demon world is no place for a deity, no matter how many demons you fuck!" With that, she broke through the branch, causing Hinata to fall once again…though it was probably the last time.

Gasping as her stomach went straight up into her throat, Hinata could only stare at the demon above her, watching the female's features contort into a vicious smile of victory. All at once, however, the same face became enveloped with fear and shock.

An arm wrapped around Hinata's middle, pulling her back against a familiar chest. The descent, or fall, became much more controlled until they finally landed on the bottom floor of the canyon, towering walls of rock lining both sides.

She didn't have to look behind her to know that Itachi had saved her from death for not the first time in her life.

But something was wrong.

Even though his hold on her was gentle, his entire body was blistering with a murderous rage, one that burned against her skin, making her want to tremble. Then, his touch disappeared and she looked behind her only to see not only the female rock demon from before, but also a good many others.

In one smooth and fluid movement, Itachi stepped toward them, readying his sword in the process.

Confidence, arrogance, and resolve were no longer the emotions that these demons displayed; rather, each one of them showed horror at the fate that awaited them.

A few demons actually bowed low to the ground, a typical stance of begging. "Forgive us, Itachi! We were not aware that she was your mate!"

That made Itachi almost hesitate, but he continued walking, his voice calm, despite his ferocity. "I detest lying more than I detest excuses."

Now, the rest of the demons were bowing lowly, even the vicious female that had attacked Hinata directly.

"Please, we will do any—"

Itachi did not let them finish; instead, he silenced them with a speed that couldn't be seen.

Hinata could only watch in amazement at the utter savagery being exhibited in her otherwise calm and collected mate. Such unadulterated fury that set her heart pumping feverishly. She had never seen him like this, which made her remember what he had said recently.

"_**Every demon knows to never get between a demon and his mate."**_

At last, only one rock demon remained, the female who had tried so eagerly to kill her. Drenched in the blood of his enemies, Itachi hovered his sword above the terrified demon's throat. He blankly glanced back at Hinata before sliding the point of the blade into the female's throat, watching emotionlessly as she choked on her own blood. "That will not happen again."

Hinata didn't move as Itachi immediately began to approach her in sure, purposeful strides, abandoning his sword just before reaching her. She opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off when his blood-smeared fingers grasped onto her jaw, his other hand pushing against her back. He crushed her against him in the same manner that he crushed his lips against hers with an aggressive passion that mirrored his previous murderous rage.

Was this another side-effect of being mated? She wondered.

He had never been like this, but that wasn't to say that she wasn't being effected as well. In fact, just the past few moments of watching and feeling him had heated her body in a strangely intimate way, and she couldn't fathom why that was.

Itachi didn't stop his passionately hurried pace, seemingly losing all inhibitions that would normally keep him from taking her on the ground, just feet away from the demon slaughter. It couldn't be helped; his emotions caused by his mate being in danger were getting the better of him. He couldn't stop, and damn it, he didn't want to, either.

Eventually, it was the feeling of another's blood being painted across her cheeks that ended up cooling Hinata's fervor, and in turn, she tried to cool his. She pulled away from him at a slow pace, turning her head from his mouth and pushing against his chest, while calling his name.

He growled at the loss of body contact, but by some small ounce of self-control, he didn't move forward to ravage her again…yet.

"Itachi…" She began, looking up worriedly at the steep canyon wall. "Are we going to be able to get back up? All of our supplies…"

"Were kicked over the edge after you fell." After hearing his voice sound so husky, he cleared it quickly. "We'll be lucky if we can recover any of it. And, no, it would be too difficult to climb back up, which leaves us with having to travel _through _the canyon."

She didn't say anything, simply waiting for him to continue with his assessment of their situation.

"Going northeast would take weeks on foot, but to go back would only be a day's journey, two at most. The choice is yours. We can get to Kiri either way; it just depends on how much more of Iwa you'd like to see."

If he had asked her that just a couple hours ago, her answer would've been a definite 'yes'. However, after nearly dying, there was not much more of Iwa that interested her at the moment. Needless to say, she murmured that she wanted to go back the way they came.

Itachi didn't blame her.

* * *

"Forty-eight hours have passed without any word from Squad One." Tsunade informed the group before her. "That gives me reason to believe that something went wrong, and I can only assume the worst. This is why you four have been gathered together as Squad Two."

In front of the matriarch's desk stood the aforementioned Squad Two, consisting of Choji, Neji, Naruto and Sasuke, all expressing the same grave demeanor, though one did not stay as quiet.

"Hey, Granny, what about Ino? Who's gonna watch over her while I'm gone?"

Tsunade waved it away. "Lee will take over your guardian duty in your absence. It's not a problem."

Naruto grumbled, giving the older blonde her chance to continue her speech.

"Your mission is to retrieve the first squad and bring them safely back to the village. Under absolutely _no _circumstances," she looked pointedly at Sasuke and Neji before settling on Naruto. "are you to continue with the first squad's mission to rescue Hinata. If their mission went awry in any way, then we need to go back to step one and re-evaluate the entire situation. Do I make myself clear?" her tone was enough to express the dangerous warning in her eyes.

Choji was the first to nod. "Yes, ma'am."

Neji nodded his understanding, though it was difficult to read whether or not he agreed with the matriarch's terms of the mission.

Naruto groaned. "Yeah, yeah, I got it."

Sasuke merely grunted before turning on his heel to leave. "Whatever, let's just go already."

"Sasuke," Tsunade called out. "I'm counting on you to be able to track them down, and also to avoid any demons."

"Got it."

"Then, you're dismissed. Leave as soon as you can and expect the worst."

A tanned fist punched itself into a palm before the blonde smiled excitedly. "Don't worry, Granny Tsunade, we'll take care of this—no problem!"

* * *

On their way out of the canyon, they managed to come across only one of their belongings, and thankfully, it was their bed. Packing it so that it was travel-size, Itachi carried it as the two hiked their way back to the familiar scenery of forestry.

Thus, began their journey to Kiri, but there were more important matters weighing on Itachi's mind. He couldn't stop thinking about Hinata having to defend herself against demons, and if he had been just a moment too late, he could've lost her forever.

It made him want to groan in agony, though he didn't. Instead, he turned to her as they walked, brows pulling together slightly. "It will always be like this, you know."

"Hm?" She turned to him, frowning in confusion. "Like what?"

"Demons trying to kill you—it won't end. Most demons can sense that you are my mate, but unfortunately, a lot of demons are stupid enough to try their luck anyway. It is doubtful that you'll ever be fully accepted into this world. Even if demons do not attack you physically, they will make their disagreements known to you in any way they can. They will never stop telling you that you don't belong in this world."

Hinata nodded, understanding. "I know…I didn't exactly expect to make any friends in this world. I'm sure that me being here is as difficult for them to adapt to as it would be for humans accepting a demon into _their_ world. It's difficult for one to see their enemy, but not be able to do anything about it. I guess I don't really blame them for feeling that way…"

"Hn," His eyes narrowed. "It's because of the constant threat of demons that I think we should resume your training as soon as possible."

She looked at him, clearly surprised. "Really?"

Beneath the surprise, he could sense her excitement and it made him smirk softly in her direction. "I've already trained you on how to fight a demon, but this time, I'm going to train you on how to kill one."

Excitement faded as determination spiked. She nodded her agreement.

In all honesty, she had really missed their training sessions.

* * *

"I can smell Master Kakashi and the others up ahead." Naruto murmured as he sped up next to Sasuke.

Sasuke didn't have to show that he agreed for his best friend to know that he did. "There are two demons, as well." The Uchiha added. "And enough blood to indicate that they're in battle."

The blonde glanced at him from the side as they continued to run through the forest with Neji and Choji trailing them from behind. "How powerful are those demons, ya think?"

Sasuke only narrowed his eyes. "I doubt they'll go down easy."

"Heh," Never one to balk at a challenge, Naruto smirked. "We'll take care of 'em _easily_."

Sasuke couldn't resist smirking in agreement.

"Hey," Choji called up to the two half-demons. "Are we getting close?"

Naruto looked back with a grin. "Almost there, but it looks like they're already in battle with two demons."

"Can you tell if they're winning or not?"

"Not really. Sasuke can smell their blood, but that doesn't mean they're losing. If we want to get some of the action, we're going to have to speed up!" With that, Naruto charged forward with inhuman speed, only for Sasuke to quickly follow.

Choji tried to yell out, but stopped when it seemed clearly pointless. At that, he continued to keep his pace next to Neji. "I think Naruto forgets that we're not half-demon, and are literally incapable of going _that _fast."

Neji snorted. "Naruto forgets a lot of things. All the same, if Squad One is in battle, we need to get there quickly."

"Mm," Choji nodded before speeding up. _Master Asuma, Shikamaru, we're coming._

As excited as Naruto was at the prospect of battle, what he saw when they reached the actual battle was enough to quickly dampen his mood. In fact, he was as horrified as the others at what awaited them.

The battle itself seemed near the end with the two demons seemingly unharmed. On the contrary, with their backs to Squad Two were the members of Squad One, or rather, what was left of them. Kakashi and Shikamaru seemed to be the only ones conscious, while Anko was collapsed slightly behind the gray-haired warrior and Asuma laid in a bloody mess in front of his genius student.

Shikamaru looked so rattled that he was trembling, his shaking arms holding onto his unconscious master.

Meanwhile, Kakashi was kneeling down, his gaze focused alertly on the two demons in front of him. One of his hands was cradling his other arm, his entire body swarmed with heavy injuries. Sensing the second group behind him, he turned to them with wide, panicked eyes. "What are you doing here? You need to leave _now_!"

"Master Kakashi!" Naruto yelled out, running to his side to support him.

Likewise, Choji ran over to Shikamaru and Asuma to gauge their injuries…only to realize something that made his heart stop. "Master Asuma," he whispered, taking in the fact that his beloved teacher was not breathing, which was perhaps why Shikamaru looked so traumatized.

Naruto noticed the interaction. "Choji, what is it?"

The bulky young man turned wide eyes to his blonde comrade. "Master Asuma, he's…"

Naruto watched him shake his head, causing his attention to turn to Asuma, noticing that the older man really was….Fury engulfed his eyes at that point before looking at the two demons that had caused all this mayhem.

While Neji took up a defensive position in front of Shikamaru, Sasuke walked straight between the two groups, looking bored as he regarded the two demons. "Who are you?"

Since the moment the second group appeared, the two demons backed off, their forms changing from demonic to somewhat normal. The taller one donned his cloak at the same time that the other demon went from looking like a black and white skeleton to something more human, retrieving his scythe in the process.

"Name's Hidan," the silver-haired one spoke first before jerking his thumb towards his partner. "And this asshole goes by the name of Kakuzu." He paused as he looked at the dark-haired young man, his face contorting in curiosity. "Hey, Kakuzu, he kinda looks like Itachi, doesn't he?"

"Indeed. I'll even go so far as to wager that they're related, which seems strange, since Itachi claimed that he killed all of his relatives." The taller demon replied. "This one is also a half-demon." His green eyes shot over to the blonde glaring daggers at him. "That one, too."

It surprised the young Uchiha to learn that the demons seemed to think that he had died along with the rest of his family and village; had Itachi lied to them?

However, it didn't surprise Sasuke that the demons knew who his brother was, but it also meant that they might know something about his current location. Whether he could defeat the demons or not, he first had to glean as much information from them as possible. "Have you seen Itachi recently?" he asked casually.

The question seemed to ignite Naruto's memory of why Squad One had been sent outside the village in the first place. "Hey! Where's Hinata? She better be safe, or I'll kill you right here, right now!"

Hidan raised a brow. "Hinata?" His eyes brightened. "Oh, yeah, that mousy little chit…seems to be a magnet for Uchiha demons," he looked pointedly at Sasuke. "And half-demons, too, apparently."

Naruto stepped forward, growing furious the longer he went ignored. "She better not be hurt, or I swear I'll—"

He was interrupted by Hidan's bark of laughter. "As if Itachi would let anything happen to her." He glanced sideways at his partner. "Never pegged him to be the territorial type."

Vibrant green eyes narrowed. "You obviously know nothing about mating."

"Where is she?" Neji demanded, a dangerous lilt to his tone.

"Like I'd tell a shithead like you." Hidan snorted.

"Hidan," Kakuzu looked ready to leave. "Now that your business is finished, I have my own to attend to before we head back to Akatsuki."

"Shut the hell up, I'm coming!" he smirked at the group, focusing more on Shikamaru. "It's been fun. Later, fuckers!"

Naruto began to run forward, his voice becoming a growl as his eyes flickered to an animalistic red. "I'll make you pay for what you've done!" A hand quickly grasped around his wrist, halting anymore movement. Naruto glanced at Kakashi before turning to see that the two demons were long gone. "Master Kakashi…!"

"It's over, Naruto."

"But…"

"Naruto's right." Sasuke's own eyes had turned red. "If we leave now, they won't get far."

"I agree." Neji stepped forward. "They obviously know where Hinata is. This is the only lead we've had so far—to ignore it would be foolish."

Kakashi eyed them. "Your mission was not to pursue Hinata, so it would be even more foolish to ignore what you were sent here to do." He looked over to the fallen warrior laying in Shikamaru's arms before his eyes traveled over to Anko. "Anko is in serious condition, and Shikamaru and I are badly injured. We need to get back to the village as soon as possible."

The three obviously didn't want to give up the opportunity to pursue the two demons, but they eventually agreed with their master.

Naruto was the first to move, his somber strides taking him over to Asuma's dead body. When he reached them, he kneeled before Shikamaru and Choji. "I'll help."

The larger one shook his head solemnly. "I'll take care of it, Naruto. Help Shikamaru."

As Choji lowered himself to carry his master in his arms, Naruto kneeled next to his other friend, wrapping the strategist's arm over his shoulders. "Come on, Shikamaru, let's go home, okay?"

"Neji," Kakashi ordered. "Carry Anko, please, but be mindful of her injuries. Sasuke, give me a hand?"

With a resolutely silent air, the two did just that before the two groups departed back to the village, taking the safest route they could. The last thing they needed was another confrontation, especially after having already lost one of their own.

* * *

Having already sent word not even twenty-four hours prior to their arrival back to the village, it really shouldn't have surprised the two squads to see their very own welcoming group. Unfortunately, it _wasn't_ a welcome sight.

Lord Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade stood at the back of the group, watching expectantly for the two squads to arrive. Having expected the worst, the matriarch had Shizune and some medical helpers on standby just in case. Ahead of the two stood a small group, awaiting their significant others.

Ino stood at the forefront, glancing around excitedly for her favorite head of blonde hair. Temari stood on one side of her, looking almost impatient from waiting. And then there was Kurenai, the black-haired beauty, who stood just next to the girls looking radiantly elegant, a delicate smile painting her red lips as she waited tolerantly.

The entire atmosphere changed the moment that Naruto came through the gates, propping up Shikamaru as he walked. Both Ino and Temari ran toward them. At the same time that Temari grasped onto her lover, Ino jumped into the arms of hers, only to back away when he didn't hold her back. "Naruto? What is it?"

The blonde refused to look at her, his blue eyes glaring at the ground before glancing to the side at the rest of the group. Ino followed his line of sight only to gasp, her hand clamping over her mouth.

Temari held onto Shikamaru, who bowed his head to the ground, tears swarming his eyes and trailing down his cheeks.

Sasuke helped Kakashi toward the patriarch and matriarch before he, too, glanced back.

Neji carried Anko over to Shizune, filling her in on the female warrior's condition, but Shizune couldn't keep her eyes away from the two walking through the village gates.

There Choji walked, tears streaming down his rounded face, as he carried the lifeless body of his master.

Kurenai saw it all, her eyes widening in panic as she ran passed Shikamaru, brushing his shoulder, before stopping in front of Choji. "Asuma…Is he…?"

Choji shook his head mutely.

Tears sprang to her eyes as a shaky hand cradled a cold cheek. "It can't be…"

A single painful cry escaped her lips before she collapsed to the ground, her screams awakening an ancient sadness amongst the villagers.

Later, it wasn't until everyone had been ushered into the medical ward that Shizune had a chance to approach Tsunade about all of her patients' conditions. "Shikamaru was a little scraped up, but he's fine. Kakashi has more serious injuries, but he'll be healed up in about a month…"

"And Anko?"

Shizune hesitated. "She's in critical condition. I've done all I can do, but I'm afraid that without Hinata…Anko's not going to make it." She sighed. "It would take a miracle."

Tsunade nodded, lifting her gaze upward. "Then, start praying."

Asuma's funeral was held the following day in the middle of the village. The entire village attended with Lord Sarutobi at the front, nearest the grave. Just behind him for support stood his protégé, Yukio.

Anko, Kakashi, and Kurenai weren't able to attend due to injuries or trauma, but the rest of the temple did attend.

Hours and hours passed, villagers leaving until only two remained at the grave. Sarutobi remained silent and still, while Yukio gazed on sadly, somewhat understanding of his lord's pain. The young man wanted to escort his lord home, but didn't dare mention it just yet. Though, his resolve strengthened when it began to drizzle steadily.

"My Lord,"

The old man sighed, closing his eyes. "Why would any parent…have to bury their own child?"

Yukio watched, his green eyes softening with sympathy. "My Lord, you'll get sick if you stay out here any longer. We should go."

Sarutobi seemed to ignore him. "I forgot…how easy it was to desire revenge when your family is taken away…and you're all that's left."

Yukio definitely understood that sentiment, but it also reminded him that the village leader was the only family he had left now, and he really couldn't lose him to a cold. So, he persisted. "We'll come back tomorrow, sir. I promise."

"Very well…"

* * *

Kakashi rested on his hospital bed, his body unwilling to move after the battle he had put it through. He was at least thankful that he could move his head, so that he could look at his visitors, two of his most favorite students, though he'd never tell them, of course.

The two best friends decided to come see their master as soon as they had the chance. Naruto sat restlessly on the chair next to the gray-haired man's bed, while Sasuke lounged against the nearby wall, arms crossed lazily over his chest.

"I heard Shikamaru is doing well, but…" Kakashi began, trailing his eyes over to the bed next to him before looking back at his students. "Anko has seen better days. How's Ino, Sakura, and Choji? They were close to Asuma."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, his blue gaze settling on the far side of the room. "I think Sakura's okay, and Ino's been crying a couple times…and Choji and Shikamaru are kinda in the same boat…so…"

"And Kurenai?"

Naruto shrugged. "Shizune has her on bed rest, but I haven't seen her or anything, so…yeah."

"I see. The funeral went well?"

"Uh-huh…"

"Kakashi," Sasuke began, cutting into the previous, depressing conversation. "We need to talk about the mission. Did those two demons tell you anything before we arrived?"

"Unfortunately, no. They didn't seem too chatty until you four got there."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "So, what happened? How'd you end up fighting against those two?"

Kakashi sighed, leaning back in his bed, closing his eyes. "Long story short, we crossed paths with them on our way to Oto. We tried questioning them, but they seemed more intent on killing us than talking to us. They were…formidable. It's been a while since I've fought demons like that."

"Hidan and Kakuzu," Sasuke recalled their names. "Have you ever heard of them before?"

"I'm afraid not. Although, we might be able to dig something up in the old records."

"They seemed acquainted with Itachi…and that Hidan guy even mentioned having met Hinata."

"That's right. That could perhaps mean that we were not too far from wherever Hinata might be. We could've been very close."

Naruto stood, knocking over his chair in the process. "Exactly why we need to do something now! If we wait any longer, we're going to lose track of her, and then what?!"

"Easy, Naruto,"

"No, he's right, Kakashi." Sasuke intervened. "We might be able to track her and Itachi weeks from now, but our best shot is to go while we have an idea of where they might be. In fact, we should form a team and leave immediately."

"Yeah, what he said!"

"Naruto, Sasuke, you're not thinking this through. What do you think will happen if you run into demons like the ones I fought against? Asuma wasn't able to defeat them, and he was a seasoned hunter with three times more experience than you two combined."

"That may be true, but," Sasuke smirked arrogantly. "You forget one very important detail. We're half-demons. What we lack in experience, we make up for in sheer power."

Kakashi frowned. "Don't be foolish, Sasuke. Those demons weren't your typical run-of-the-mill demons. They're a lot worse, probably near the same level as Itachi. They're not to be taken lightly."

Naruto growled in frustration, resisting the urge to punch his fist through a wall. "First Hinata, then Master Asuma, and now…" blue eyes trailed off, looking at Anko. "They're not going to get away with it."

"That's not what I meant, Naruto." Kakashi stated firmly. "I simply meant that we need to rethink our strategy. One good thing did result from this, however. Hinata is obviously alive."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. _Of course she is. One thing worries me, however. Has he marked her? And, what did that demon mean by mating? _Black eyes widened. _He didn't!_

Kakashi raised a brow, seeing the look on the young Uchiha's face. "Sasuke? Is something wrong?"

His expression cleared instantly. "…No."

Obviously misunderstanding the situation, Naruto placed his hand on his best friend's shoulder. "Don't worry, Sasuke, we'll get her back!"

"Maybe…"

* * *

Breathing came harshly to Hinata as she ran through the forest, weaving her way around the trees, her white eyes looking everywhere at once.

Her heart thudded violently against her ribcage, her white gown almost snagging on a nearby branch. Her muscles burned as she pushed her body to its limit, running faster and faster, knowing her opponent was close behind.

Still, she pushed forward, refusing to give up so soon.

Suddenly, she gasped and ducked behind a tree, narrowly avoiding the dagger that had been aiming for her head. The sound of footsteps entered her ears, setting fire to her veins, and she was running again.

All too soon, a thud sounded on the ground just behind her.

Spinning around gracefully, she dodged an incoming punch, only to swivel around, sending out her own flurry of attacks in the process.

"Good, but your fist should be higher."

"Okay," she huffed, continuing the spar with determination.

"Better, but your defense needs to be tested." The words had barely left his mouth before he disappeared, attacking her from behind.

Sure enough, she was on defense, blocking and dodging where she could.

"Adequate," he murmured in a blank tone. "Now, try to switch back onto offense."

Biting her lip, she attempted just that, only to be pushed away, a cry escaping her mouth before she landed on the ground with only her arms supporting her.

For the first time since their training session began, Itachi cracked a smirk. "Now we know what you need to work on."

Hinata smiled, taking the offered hand in front of her, allowing her to be pulled back into a standing position. Before she could say anything, he flipped her around until her back was against his chest and his arms covering her own arms, mimicking a position they hadn't been in since their long-ago training sessions.

It made her heart flutter as if her body remembered the position and the tense touches that came along with it. However, this time, his touches were not forcefully professional, nor was there a heated tension between them. Rather, his touches were sensually teasing, and the heated tension between them was not uncomfortable, but filled with anticipation.

It was increased even more as Itachi led her through the fighting style, teaching her the most efficient way to shift from defense to offense in mid-battle. Hinata paid rapt attention; that is, until her mate began placing languid half-open kisses against her neck and shoulder, his fingers stroking rather than directing.

"Itachi," she whispered, biting back a moan when his lips grazed against her mark. "I can't concentrate when you're doing that."

He smirked against her skin. "A warrior must be able to see passed distraction."

"That's…" she finally just stopped moving, letting him hold and kiss her from behind. "Easy for you to say…You're not the one being distracted."

He chuckled lowly, before increasing his fervor. "I can't tell you how many times I wanted to do this every time you walked into that meadow."

Her hand found its way to his hair, while her shaky smile turned wry and teasing. "Even when I was a child?"

He snorted. "Of course not. Your body wasn't appealing back then."

She laughed breathily. "It is now?"

"Mm, take off your gown, Hinata."

"W-What?" She immediately backed away from him, staring at him dead-on. That's when she noticed the fevered intensity in his red eyes, as if he were going to devour her. It made her blush, the rest of her body heating in want.

"Take it off, or I'll rip it off." He demanded, stepping toward her.

"But, it's my last one," she protested.

His frenzied gaze didn't waver. "Then, you better hurry."

Time passed, though it was hardly noticed by the two mates as they laid on the ground naked and sated in each other's arms. Thankfully, Hinata's gown had been saved from Itachi's wrath, the white article laying crumpled only feet from the couple.

Contented and somewhat sleepy, Hinata rested her head atop Itachi's chest, listening to his heartbeat as if it were a lullaby.

Absently, Itachi stroked her arm as he thought about the remainder of their journey to Kiri, or rather, to a port that would have a boat ready to take them to Kiri. They were almost there, currently being in proximity to Oto, which didn't set Itachi at ease.

He knew that, in Oto, there were the hordes of Kaiju, creatures that he couldn't let get anywhere near Hinata. What made him even more anxious was not knowing exactly where the hordes were. Rumor had it that the creatures sought the underground as a home, and Orochimaru's land was _full_ of underground tunnels.

That was comforting, but not comforting enough; in which case, Itachi needed to get Hinata to that port as quickly as possible. He really didn't want to risk running into those experiment rejects. They may be weak, but they were persistently annoying. Though, who knew what they would be like once they sensed Hinata.

"Itachi?" Hinata murmured, having sensed his pensive mood. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." He replied quickly. "We should get going."

"Oh…okay."

* * *

**I thought I'd end it on a good note (kind of). Anyway, thanks for the constant love and loyalty. My appreciation for my readers and reviewers can never be fully expressed.**

**So, consider this quick update as a thank-you for sticking with me for all the years that I've been slowly trying to finish this story.**

**I will tell you all one thing, though; we're getting close to the ending! Well…close-ish.**

**Thanks again!**

**Tranquilwriter**


	34. Mist

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**AGE REMINDER: Rookie Nine—18, Neji, Tenten, Lee—19, Kankuro—20, Temari—21**

* * *

**Divinity**

**Chapter XXXIII**

**Mist**

* * *

"_Sorrow makes us all children again – destroys all differences of intellect. The wisest know nothing."_

_Ralph Waldo Emerson_

"_It's quite ironic that in life, the person that brings out the best in you and makes you strong is actually your weakness."_

_Unknown_

* * *

Itachi had come to a fork in the road. They were almost to the port; all they had to do was travel through one of two different pathways. The main pathway, the usual one, was safe and easy to travel on, but it was surrounded on both sides by human villages.

Or, rather…

It was surrounded on both sides by _decimated _human villages. This would normally not be much of a problem for Itachi, but he knew that Hinata would be a different matter. He seriously doubted that she would react well to seeing so many of her race's villages burnt to the ground, the humans obviously slaughtered as well.

He wanted to avoid it altogether, but that left only one pathway to take, one that made him uncomfortable.

A small cave system ran between their current location and the port that would take them to Kiri. It would be a quicker route, and it was devoid of slaughtered humans, but…

He didn't think Hinata would like that route either.

"Itachi?" Hinata asked with concern, noticing that he had paused walking for a brief moment, almost as if he was indecisive about something. "What is it?"

"Nothing." He easily schooled his expression back to normal. "Let's go—we're just about there."

With that, he began leading them toward the cave entrance.

As they entered the cave, Hinata didn't say anything, didn't question him whatsoever.

Although, she deeply wanted to, and it was only because he seemed strangely tense for some reason. In fact, he had seemed tense since the last time she asked him if something was wrong. Of course, she didn't ask, simply because she trusted him wholeheartedly. If there was something she needed to know, he would tell her.

She was sure of that.

However, it didn't stop her from worrying as they made their way through the dark and damp tunnels of the cave, their footsteps being the only noise between them. She didn't even keep pace next to him, either. Of course, she didn't know where to go, so that was the main reason why she stayed a step or two behind him. The other reason was that it gave her a chance to observe him in the quiet of the cave.

She hated that no matter how long she observed him, she couldn't figure out what was bothering him. And it only seemed to get worse the further in they went.

Itachi couldn't understand it. He couldn't sense any demons nearby, and yet…he kept sensing danger. It was driving him insane, and it didn't intensify until they were almost out. _What is it coming from?_

All too soon, they came across a large opening in the cave system just before the exit. That's when it hit him, and by then, it was too late.

Hinata was absolutely shocked when she heard her mate curse under his breath. With wide eyes, she opened her mouth to speak and only got as far as the first syllable of his name before his hand clamped over her mouth. If it was possible, her eyes widened even further, but since she couldn't speak, she only looked at him, brows pursing together in inquiry.

He wasn't looking at her, however; instead, his gaze was focused alertly on the scene in front of him.

Once again, she could do nothing but watch as he slipped off his cloak and quickly covered her with it before pulling her tightly against him. All the while, she had no idea what was going on. Why was he acting this way? Why was he acting almost…afraid?

Gulping, she turned to where he was looking so intensely, her eyes squinting through the darkness, trying to see what had Itachi so on edge.

_Wait… _She was starting to see it. _What is that? _No, it wasn't a 'that', because there were more than just one. In fact, whatever they were, they practically took up the entire cavern that she and Itachi were just outside of. _Demons?_

These creatures _had _to be demons; there simply wasn't another name for them. Hinata didn't think she could even properly describe these creatures, for that's really what they were. They almost appeared human in form, but they didn't wear clothes, and their skin looked to be a sickly grey color. Also, none of them seemed to have any body hair at all, and this was just what she could make out so far.

It seemed like the horde of creatures were sleeping…during the day, which reminded her of bats, though they didn't look like bats. Animalistic, yes. Bats? No.

So, what were they?

"Kaiju," came the soft whisper from the man next to her. It was so inaudible that she almost didn't hear it. "Neither human nor demon, yet a mix of both. They feast on human flesh, and if they smell so much as an ounce of human scent on you, you're dead."

Hinata gulped in fear, understanding why he had thrown his cloak over her and kept her close to him. His scent was already on her due to the mating, but he wasn't taking any chances—he was eliminating whatever human scent she carried, which meant that these creatures were enough to worry him.

And _that_ worried her.

Hand still clamped over his mate's mouth, Itachi assessed the current situation, debating the best course of action. They could head back, of course, but the way back was going to be a lot longer than going forward toward the nearby exit. If they did head back the way they came, there was a strong risk that the Kaiju would still come after them, and the creatures would have more of an opportunity to ambush them that way.

On the other hand, if they managed to quietly walk around the horde of Kaiju, there was still a chance that they would attack, but being so close to the cave exit meant that safety would be a lot closer, too.

As long as he kept Hinata cloaked with his demon scent, the Kaiju would, in theory, not notice their presence. Hopefully, they wouldn't even bother to wake up. After all, the Kaiju would only wake up if they were interested in a nearby scent, and only if that scent was human, or rather, food.

He knew that there was a chance that he'd regret it later, but as of the current moment, the best option seemed to lay in front of them. He had to lead Hinata around the Kaiju horde silently and without her even breathing in their direction. It would not be easy.

Decision made, Itachi finally faced his mate, only to see her staring horrified at the creatures before them—creatures she had never even imagined could exist, yet there they were. White eyes met red ones as if she were plainly asking, _what do we do?_

Itachi answered her by speaking almost silently in her ear. "We're going around them." He hesitated, seeing the absolute fear in her eyes. "Be as silent as possible, and don't let them smell you."

She nodded, her shaky resolve gradually strengthening.

Calloused fingers grazed her cheek, his eyes softening and hardening intermittently. "I will not let them hurt you. Stay by me the entire time."

Nodding again, Hinata grasped onto his hand firmly, tightening his cloak around her body. It was her own silent way of letting him know that she trusted him.

His mouth twitched upward for the briefest of seconds before his demeanor became as emotionless as when she had first met him. The only difference was that, before, he had threatened her life, and now, he was protecting it.

With slow and steady steps, Itachi led her into the large cavern, moving around the first couple groups of sleeping Kaiju. Taking the path nearest the wall, Itachi was able to place Hinata between the wall and himself, his own feet occasionally brushing against some of the creatures, causing them to stir before falling raptly asleep.

Hinata's grip on her mate's hand tightened absently the more she was able to see these creatures up close. Their eyes were closed, but it wasn't necessarily because they were asleep; it was because where their eyelids _would _be, there were instead deeply inlaid scars, so deep that it was doubtful the creatures even _had_ eyeballs.

Besides that, Hinata couldn't tell which ones were male or female, or maybe they were genderless. Also, it didn't look like their bodies contained anything more than skin and bones; they were living skeletons.

Itachi literally pulled her from her thoughts when his hand yanked her forward after she had almost stepped on one of the creatures. His red eyes glared back at her in warning, to which she bit her lip shamefully.

He merely looked forward again, his eyes constantly sweeping their surroundings, ensuring the best path possible. So far so good.

Just a couple yards away was the cave exit, sunshine streaming through, tempting Hinata, and anywhere the sun touched, the Kaiju seemed to avoid. Did they have a sensitivity to light? Perhaps, but she couldn't afford to dwell on it at the moment; especially if it might distract her.

Glancing to her side, she watched the closest Kaiju to them, seeing it stir in its sleep before sitting up when Itachi had brushed by it. It sniffed the air curiously, smelling Itachi, before instantly becoming disinterested.

As soon as Hinata passed the creature, it's movements were enough to make her edge closer to Itachi, if only to avoid shuddering at how…_creepy _it was.

Although, as soon as Hinata was no longer paying attention to it, the creature crawled across the floor, looking for a better sleeping position. Moving blindly, one of its gnarled hands happened to graze just under her cloak, brushing against her skin. If she had been walking just slightly faster, the touch would've been avoided.

Unfortunately, the touch was enough to spike the creature's curiosity again as it lifted its hand to its nose, sniffing and making low sounds deep in its throat. The sounds grew louder until it finally threw its head back and let out a hoarse, high-pitched scream, head snapping in Hinata's direction.

Itachi had turned at the noise, jaw clenching in realization before another curse escaped his lips. Before his mate had time to blink, he had grasped her hand tightly, urging her toward him just before they began to run toward the exit.

Hinata looked around with fear-widened eyes, seeing that one-by-one, the creatures were awakening, having been alerted to the nearby food source. "Itachi!" she cried out just before, as one, they surged toward them both, crawling on all fours like the creatures they were.

"Damn it," Using his grip on her hand, he pushed her ahead of him, while his other hand retrieved his sword, using it to slice through the first row of Kaiju. "Run to the exit." Seeing her hesitate, his red eyes blazed, commas spinning threateningly. "_Now_, Hinata."

Jumping at his tone, she turned on her heel to begin running toward the cave exit, knowing Itachi would protect her from behind. However, she still had to deal with the Kaiju blocking her up ahead. Ignoring her initial fear at the sight of the creatures crawling towards her at a fast rate, she plunged forward, attacking the first one that came at her.

They were not very strong, but they were proving to be very fast. Knowing that she couldn't stay in one place to fight them, she continued running toward the exit, defending and attacking when she had to. _Almost there!_

Seconds from touching the incoming rays of sun, she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. A single Kaiju was in mid-air, coming straight toward her, her breath hitching in response. Blood splattered in a line across the cave wall just before a black blur appeared between her and the creature. A bloody sword lowered as Itachi's unoccupied hand wrapped around the Kaiju's throat.

A slanting cut appeared on the creature's body, almost dividing the body in half, only being held together by Itachi's grip on its neck. With disgust and too much force, Itachi threw the body to the side, making it crash into an incoming group of hungry Kaiju.

Not wasting any more time, Hinata sprinted out of the cave entrance, relishing the sun on her skin. For a moment, it blinded her, which was long enough for to run directly into a hard surface, falling back on her behind with a quiet grunt.

Looking up, she was shocked to see that the surface she had run into was actually a tall body, a very…_blue_ body. _Kisame?_

The shark demon looked down at her with a raised brow. "Thought I sensed you two nearby. Are you having problems, or did you get lost?" He even chuckled, showing his obvious amusement.

Hinata stood rapidly, grasping onto his cloak in panic. "Itachi and the Kaiju—"

"Kaiju, huh?" he repeated, his amused grin faltering into something more serious. "Is he in the cave?"

Hinata nodded, her eyes pleading with him to help.

Kisame turned behind him, calling out to someone she didn't see. "Deidara, get over here!"

A taller blonde entered her line of sight, his one visible eye looking her over curiously. "What do you want? And who's this?"

"This is Itachi's mate. Take her to the boat, while I go help out my partner."

"Okay…" the blonde looked confused as he and the girl watched Kisame disappear into the cave. Afterward, he looked down at her, brow raised. "So, you're Itachi's mate, hm?"

Still shaken, she managed to answer him. "I'm Hinata."

"The deity. Yeah, I heard about you. Come on, the dock is over here."

"But, Itachi—"

The blonde laughed. "If you're worried about him, then you obviously have no idea what he's truly capable of. Uchiha demons like him are assholes, but they're powerful assholes. Now, get moving, so I can introduce you to _my _partner, hm?"

It was disorienting to see these demons so calm, considering the horde of Kaiju she just had to fight through. Did _nothing _bother them? Were they so powerful that creatures like the Kaiju were laughable? Hinata was starting to think so, and strangely, the thought managed to calm her nerves.

If the demons that surrounded her thought of the Kaiju as a waste of energy, then what could she possibly have to worry about when being protected by these invincible demons? As long as they didn't turn on her, she'd be the safest person in the world.

The demon named Deidara led her over to the pier, where a small boat was docked, waiting for them, it seemed.

"So, are you hungry?" he asked uncertainly, helping her onto the boat deck.

She watched him in suspicious surprise. "I'm okay,"

Catching onto her look, he stared at her with a wry glare. "Look, don't flatter yourself into thinking that I care about you out of the kindness of my heart. There are only a few demons that I would never want to piss off, and you happen to be mated to one, which means that if I don't want my ass kicked, I gotta be nice to you, alright?"

"I understand…" she murmured, still unsure about how to act around this odd demon.

"Okay, so do you want to eat? Are you thirsty? Maybe you're tired? I could show you where the beds are. I'm not really sure what to do with a human, other than kill 'em, but…" His eyes brightened. "Oh, do you want to blow something up? That always makes me feel better, mhm."

Unable to help herself, and not exactly understanding why, she giggled. This demon was as outgoing as Naruto, which was a comfort to her in this land of demons. If only more demons were more like this one.

He grasped onto her arm excitedly. "Come on, I'll introduce you to Sasori!"

Seconds later, Hinata found herself being dragged below deck into a darkness that Deidara, like all demons, could navigate easily. A light shone up ahead, coming from a small room that the blonde was running toward, his grip on her wrist never lessening. "Heh, heh. Hey, Sasori, my man, look who I got!" he announced after barging into the room.

Red hair and a boyish face turned at the commotion, his expression unnervingly blank.

Hinata's eyes took in the young demon before her, noting his lax posture as he sat on a stool next to a table, on which different puppetry tools were laid out. His wild red hair reminded her so much of Gaara, though his demeanor was much colder. Unconsciously, she edged toward the demon next to her, somewhat hiding behind him.

"A deity?" Sasori droned, clearly uninterested.

Smiling widely, Deidara spread his arms. "Not just any deity, but Itachi's mate! Looks like she's going to Kiri with us."

"And where is Itachi?" Sasori murmured, glancing over the white-eyed deity with assessing eyes. "I doubt he would leave his mate with us for long."

"He and Kisame are busy, I guess, but they'll be here soon enough." Then, he nudged her with an elbow. "Don't be rude; introduce yourself."

"Oh!" Hinata finally mustered up the courage to step around the blonde demon, setting her soft gaze on the red-haired demon. "My name is Hinata. It's nice to meet you, Sasori."

His bored gaze turned back to his table of tools. "Which deity are you?"

"I'm sorry?" her brows furrowed to match her misunderstanding tone.

"Are you the one with abnormal strength, or the healer, or perhaps you can read minds?"

"Oh, I'm the healer." She answered, briefly wondering if the deities' powers were common knowledge amongst demons.

He merely grunted in acknowledgement. "Good to know." He paused, head slightly lifted alertly. "Itachi and Kisame are back. He's probably looking for her, Deidara."

"Yeah, yeah," Deidara waved off his words. "You guys are no fun. I'll take her up."

Hinata followed behind the blonde with her normal serenity, though inwardly, she was impatient to see Itachi and make sure that he was okay. They had barely made it onto the deck when Hinata spied her mate up ahead, resulting in her sprinting around Deidara and straight towards the dark-haired demon.

Itachi's gaze immediately went to her as she ran toward him, both of their eyes glancing over each other for any injuries.

While Hinata didn't see that he had any injuries, she couldn't help but ask as soon as she was in front of him. "Are you hurt?"

He shook his head.

"And…those creatures?"

"It's taken care of." He answered blankly before looking over her shoulder at the blonde demon. "Deidara, get Sasori."

"Hm? Why?" he asked, though one look from Itachi and he was already heading back down the stairs. "Okay, okay, I'm going!"

Kisame sighed. "Since we're all here, I'll get the boat going. Be back soon,"

Finally, when it was just the two of them, Itachi looked at her again, his hand moving to automatically stroke her cheek with a fondness he didn't seem too keen on showing around the others. "You fought well."

Smiling softly, she leaned into his hand. "I had a good teacher."

The corner of his mouth tilted upward at her comment before he easily bent down to touch his lips to hers.

Sighing into his kiss, Hinata leaned in for more, only to hear him pull back and chuckle.

"We'll continue this later," he whispered before directing her attention to the shark demon returning, along with the other two demons coming up the stairs from below deck.

"What's this about?" Sasori was the first to ask when their group had formed a small circle.

Kisame met Sasori's gaze with a question of his own. "Did either of you know that there was a cave full of Kaiju not even half a mile from here?"

"Kaiju?" Sasori slowly repeated.

Deidara rubbed the back of his head. "I know there's a cave system with a tunnel that leads to here—is that the one you're talking about?"

"Yes," Itachi intoned. "It obviously hasn't been used in a while, since there are now Kaiju inhabiting it."

"How many?"

Itachi looked at brown-eyed poison demon. "A horde."

Kisame suddenly chuckled. "Not anymore, though. It's empty now that Itachi and I took care of it. But, still…" his grin disappeared. "For the Kaiju to be this far away from Oto is strange, to say the least."

Something seemed to click in Deidara's mind as his eyes brightened. "Wait a minute, that's why you handed her off to me," he mentioned, looking at Kisame before turning his surprised expression toward Itachi. "The Kaiju are nothing to us, but you took a _human _in there, amidst a _horde _of human-hungry Kaiju?" he snorted before mumbling beneath his breath. "Some mate _you_ are."

A glare from Itachi silenced him, letting him know that he heard his remark. Just as quickly, however, the Uchiha glanced over the group before settling a condescending glare back onto the only blonde there. "The Kaiju may be weak against demons, but they are also difficult to sense; that is, until we're already upon them. Usually this would not be a problem, but because Hinata was with me, it quickly became a problem, so that not even my own scent could cover her completely."

"Hm," Deidara grunted. "Kakuzu and Hidan didn't do their job very well."

"Not that it matters anymore." Sasori added in a drawl. "The Kaiju that were in that cave are obviously no longer there, though I will send a message to Lord Madara informing him of the creatures' movements."

"Heh," Kisame smirked suddenly, pinning his stare on Hinata, who had been very quiet during their whole discussion. "You're lucky, deity. From now on, you'll be the most protected human in all these lands."

Sasori nodded his agreement. "Not many humans can boast about being protected by the most elite of demons."

Deidara snorted his dry amusement. "Not many can boast about being mated to a demon like Itachi, either. As if that's not enough, she also has the protection of the demon _leader_, hmph."

Itachi turned his gaze to his mate, his eyes softening automatically as red met white. "Lucky, indeed."

Hinata could only smile shakily in response.

* * *

Two figures stood solemnly in the middle of a quiet courtyard, surrounded by trees. Despite the mid-afternoon sun, it seemed so dark in the grassy clearing, as if the sun's rays had a difficult time penetrating it.

Still, the two figures stood resolutely side-by-side, neither having spoken since they arrived. It was possible that an hour passed before one figure clenched her hands into fists, red lips forming into a snarl, accentuating her gritted teeth. "I never thought…that one deity's absence could create so much havoc."

Spiky, white hair moved as an older male face turned to his companion, his expression showing nothing of what he inwardly felt. "Hinata was our healer, so of course her absence would unsettle us."

Exhaling sharply, the woman turned her gaze downward, her scowl sharpening. "Unsettle us? It damn near _crippled _us!"

"Tsunade…"

She ignored the patriarch. "Was this what Itachi Uchiha had planned? Damn it…What was I thinking by sending them out there to retrieve Hinata? What a stupid idea. Because of me, Asuma is dead and now…" she paused, staring morosely at the grave just in front of her. "We've lost Anko, too…"

"Stop it, Tsunade." Jiraiya's brows lowered into a frown, his tone of voice sharp and authoritative. "I was part of that decision, as well, along with the village leader. And in case you forgot, that entire team, Asuma and Anko included, volunteered for that mission, _fought _for it. They knew what was at risk."

Biting her lip to the point where she was almost drawing blood, Tsunade relaxed her clenched fists. "Tell that to Kurenai…"

* * *

Elsewhere, Kakashi walked toward another grave, his right arm in a sling and his other arm cradling a bouquet of flowers. During the duration of his walk, he had kept his face lowered in thought, but upon noticing that he wasn't alone at the grave, he looked upward. Ahead of him, he saw Kurenai crouched down in front of the grave, flowers already placed at the base of the stone.

Facing her back, Kakashi stared in uncertainty.

"Shouldn't you be resting, Kakashi?" Kurenai murmured quietly, refusing to look over at him.

Kakashi's one visible eye crinkled, signifying his hidden smile, though it was obviously strained. "I think I'm rested enough to be walking around. Not to mention, Shizune gets a bit suffocating after a while." He even chuckled lowly, rubbing the back of his head, though his humor was lost on the grieving woman.

Despite not looking over at the gray-haired man once, Kurenai mentioned the flowers he carried. "Are those for Asuma?"

"And Anko, yes." Seeing her lack of further communication, Kakashi walked forward, placing half of the bouquet next to the other flowers that were already there. "Have you gone to see Anko's grave yet? I know you two were good friends."

She shook her head. "I will later. Are you planning to continue the mission?"

"Perhaps," he murmured indifferently, shrugging. "Shikamaru wants revenge, that's for sure." Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Kurenai's own red orbs widening. "I have a feeling he's already thinking up a strategy to defeat the demons that killed Asuma."

"He'll get himself killed." She whispered, feeling worry and concern grip her heart, knowing how much Shikamaru meant to her dead lover.

"Asuma was a father to him. Perhaps…you two could talk. You both need someone who will understand each other's pain."

* * *

Awaking from her nap, Temari rolled over on her bed, immediately taking notice of the person missing from her side. Sitting up quickly, she ignored how mussed her hair must have looked, or how red-rimmed her eyes must appear, and instead, focused her attention on the edge of her bed. There sat a hunched-over Shikamaru, his eyes closed and fingertips touching each other.

"Shika?" Temari whispered, inquiring. Crawling towards him, she stopped at his back, wrapping her arms around him. "Have you slept?"

"I will later." He replied, breaking his hands apart and staring with dead eyes out beyond the balcony.

She saw his lie and instead of fighting him on it, as she normally would, she leaned forward to place a kiss against his neck before getting off the bed. She changed hurriedly, constantly glancing over at her boyfriend. "I'm going to get some food. I'll be right back."

He didn't respond as she left the room, though Temari was surprised to see who was standing outside her door. "Miss Kurenai?"

Crimson eyes met hers briefly before staring at the bedroom door. "Is Shikamaru in there? I'd like to speak to him."

"Sure,"

Without any further comment, Kurenai entered the room at the same time that Temari left towards the dining area.

To say that Shikamaru was somewhat surprised to see Kurenai sit next to him would've been an understatement. He honestly hadn't seen her since the day he brought his dead teacher back to the village. Pain-filled eyes stared at the woman next to him before turning away in shame. "Kurenai, I…I'm so sorry. If I had only…been older and more prepared, Asuma wouldn't have—"

A manicured hand grasped his chin, forcefully turning the boy's face toward her own. "That's enough, Shikamaru. What happened, happened. Asuma would not wish this for you, and I…do not wish this for you, either…especially since I will need you now more than ever."

Brows furrowed as he watched her, confusion settling in, despite his genius.

Smiling sadly, Kurenai grabbed one of his hands and placed it against her lower stomach. "Asuma is not as gone as you think."

"You mean…" he trailed off, eyes widened as it all clicked into place.

She nodded. "You see? Hinata, Asuma, Anko….I can't lose you, too."

Eyes moistened before tears spilled down his cheeks, his head bowing as a sob forced its way out of his mouth. Kurenai smiled softly as she pulled the young man against her, comforting him like a mother would her own son.

From the doorway, Temari watched, a sad smile of her own beginning to form. For the first time since Asuma's death, she felt grateful and relieved, seeing the love of her life finally shed his pain and grief in tears.

_Thank you, Miss Kurenai…_

* * *

"I see…" Gaara nodded his head before glancing beyond the rooftop, his gaze focusing on the distant forest. The small group before him was momentarily silent after having explained to the redhead all that occurred on their mission. Arms crossed over his chest and face devoid of emotion, Gaara returned his gaze to his closest friend there. "You did not fail, Naruto."

The blonde squeezed his eyes shut, turning his head away to hide his pain. "We lost two of our teachers, and Hinata is still out there somewhere. How is that not a failure?"

Sasuke sighed under his breath, closing his eyes briefly as he leaned against the rooftop door. "Are you giving up?"

"Hell no!" he yelled back at his best friend, not noticing the slight smirk on the Uchiha's face. "I think we should regroup and get back out there, and not come back until we have Hinata!"

A distance away from the redhead and the Uchiha, Neji stood, keeping his white-eyed gaze on Naruto. "I agree. We've learned that Hinata was close to where we were, and while it was vague, it will give us a place to start. Needless to say, Naruto, I'm in."

While Naruto grinned, the other two half-demons scowled at the Hyuga. Sasuke was the one to voice his thoughts, smirking menacingly as he did so. "Sorry. No room for traitors on this mission."

Grin disappearing, Naruto looked between Neji and his best friend confusingly. "Eh? Traitor?"

Neji scowled at the dark-haired man. "I'm going. If anyone's going to bring Hinata back, it'll be her guardian, not her…_sparring buddy_." He then turned his scowl on Gaara. "Or her _confidant_."

It was no surprise to see the two glare even more heatedly at the Hyuga, each one silently debating how best to kill him.

Neji's voice became a snarl. "You two are more traitors than I am, sending her off to her death."

"What is going?!" Naruto cried out, obviously feeling left out.

"Weren't you there?" Sasuke's smirk returned. "Hinata's obviously not dead. In fact," the smirk disappeared as he leveled a meaningful stare at Gaara. "She might even be mated to him."

"Mated?" Neji hissed, unknowing of the term, but liking it no less.

A flicker of surprise crossed the sand half-demon's face. "Hinata is…his mate?" Worry overtook from there.

Sasuke sighed again. "It's a possibility, but I couldn't be too sure. My trust in demons is not exactly something to brag about."

"But it is a possibility."

"A very _rare _possibility, one I don't think Itachi would do. I'll explain the details later."

At this point, Naruto yelled out in frustration. "What are you guys talking about?! I don't get _any _of this!"

"It doesn't matter." Sasuke quickly answered him, his black eyes swimming with hidden emotions. "Personally, I don't think we should pursue Hinata. The chances of us rescuing her and coming out alive are slim."

"What?" Naruto looked baffled. "How can you say that? I'm not going to abandon her, Sasuke, and plus…I don't see what you're complaining about, considering we'll end up coming face-to-face with your brother, which is what I thought you wanted!"

Well, Naruto had him there, Sasuke realized. He couldn't refuse that without seeming suspicious, and not to mention, he really did want to face off against his loathed brother.

Naruto smiled victoriously, seeing that his best friend was in, so he turned to the last one there who had yet to agree. "You'll come, too, right Gaara?"

"I…" he muttered, staring at his blonde friend, trying to think of _anything _to dissuade Naruto's goal. However, there was no excuse he could give him without giving away the truth of Hinata's "kidnapping". He was stuck.

Naruto started to beg. "Come on, Gaara! We can't do this without you, and you're someone I trust who will always have my back, and most importantly…Hinata's your friend, and we never abandon our friends!"

Cursing in his mind, Gaara eventually nodded his agreement. "Fine, but if we're going to pursue this mission of rescuing Hinata, then we need to approach Lady Tsunade about it."

Smirking with excitement, Naruto pounded a fist into his hand. "Yeah, and this time…we'll bring Hinata back!"

* * *

Itachi learned something very interesting about his mate, the possibility of which never occurred to him before. After all, it was her first time being on a boat, or rather, being on the sea, so how was he or Hinata supposed to know that she was prone to seasickness?

Either way, they both discovered it soon after the boat departed for Kiri. Hinata had been at the forefront of the deck, marveling at the heavy mist that surrounded them and the utter tranquility of the sea when it happened. Both of Itachi's eyebrows rose when Hinata suddenly hunched over, cradling her stomach, and then leaned over the boat to release the contents of her stomach.

"I'm…I'm so sorry," she had muttered in embarrassment after recovering from her first bout of nausea. "I don't—" All too soon, another bout of nausea led her to lean over the boat's edge for what would not likely be the last time.

After realizing that his mate was seasick, Itachi carried her below deck, laying her down upon a private cot. Kneeling down to her level, he rested his palm against her forehead, watching her closed eyes and listening to her quick breaths. "Can't you heal this?"

Hinata opened her eyes half-way at hearing him speak, a small smile tiredly gracing her features. "I'm working on it,"

It was then he realized that her hand had been hovering over her stomach for the past few minutes. So, he grunted. "It won't take long before we arrive in Kiri. Until then, do you need anything?"

Though he was good at hiding it, she could see the concern in his eyes, and it made her smile even more. "Lay with me?"

He immediately stood and turned halfway around, making her smile falter. Then, his cloak fell from his body only to be placed over her before he joined her on the cot, pulling her against his chest with a greediness that she was growing quite fond of. "Go to sleep, Hinata."

* * *

"Feel better?" Itachi asked as soon as they reached the land of Kiri, their feet once again on solid ground.

"Mhm!" Hinata smiled widely, her nausea no longer present, though she was starting to feel hungry. She ignored that bodily urge, and instead focused on something much more interesting, and that was this new land of Kiri.

The island was bigger, and yet smaller, than she expected. She could see the sea surrounding the entire island, which made it feel small, but the crowded populace of demons made the island appear bigger at the same time. Overall, the experience was overwhelming, especially since she remembered that the island of Kiri was a place never visited by humans—did it always belong to the demons?

From the port, she watched the bustle of demons, all of them walking or running in and out of the buildings that lined both sides of the island. A single dirt road took up the middle of the island, reminding her of something very human. "It's like a village, except for demons."

Itachi rose a brow at her observation, quietly agreeing. "Akatsuki is the home for demons, but Kiri…is more like a marketplace, a center of constant activity." He glanced at her, seeing the wonder and apprehension in her eyes. "You've never seen this many demons." He stated, seeing her unconsciously edge closer to him.

She shook her head, a tremor raking through her. "This is…really dangerous for me, isn't it?"

"Just don't wander away from me, and it'll be fine." He almost wanted to smirk at how she gripped onto his arm for dear life, hugging her body close to his while her eyes stayed wide open, taking in all that Kiri had to offer.

A loud laugh resounded behind them causing for Hinata to jump and turn to face the blue-skinned demon walking toward them, and just behind him were the other two demons she had recently become acquainted with—Sasori and Deidara.

Kisame walked right up to Hinata and ruffled her hair playfully. "I've seen leaches with looser grips than that. You're not scared, are ya, deity?"

She blushed just before an elbow nudged her from her side.

Deidara smirked down at her, clearly amused by the whole situation. "There's only _hundreds_ of human-hating demons here—what's there to be scared of?" He watched her gulp and it only made him and Kisame laugh louder.

Sasori walked up to them, interrupting their laughter before settling his bored gaze on Itachi's mate. "It's like I said earlier, you're being protected by the most elite of demons; it would be foolish to be afraid of the weaklings that reside here."

And she was Itachi's mate, for Goddess' sake! Taking a deep breath, Hinata loosened her hold on Itachi, her body visibly relaxing thanks to Sasori's words and her own realization. Once the fear had left her, she smiled gratefully at the redhead. "You're right, Sasori. Thank you."

He merely blinked back at her, seeming unsure how to respond to gratitude, since no one (human or demon) had ever thanked him for anything, nor had he ever thanked anyone either. This surely had to be some sort of human custom, and it made his eyes narrow, not knowing how to handle such a comment.

The deity didn't seem to mind, since her attention soon turned to Itachi, as if waiting for him to lead the way. Kisame, actually, turned out to be the one who started walking forward, since Kiri was more of a home to him than Akatsuki.

"We'll stay for as long as you want." Itachi mentioned as he began to follow after Kisame with Deidara and Sasori flanking him and Hinata on either side.

"R-Really?" Hinata asked in surprise and excitement.

He nodded once. "Kiri mimics a human village in many ways, but don't forget for one moment that you are surrounded by demons, protected though you may be. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I promise not to wander off."

"Good,"

"Hey, Itachi," Kisame called back to him. "I forgot to tell you that I already set up a place for you two to stay at while you're here."

"Where?"

"At the far end of the island, really isolated." He shrugged with an amused smile. "Now that you're mated to a human, you probably won't want to stay where most of the demons stay. I'm protecting the demon populace this way. You got a human in the middle of a bunch of demons, some too stupid to sense you on her. Keeping you isolated from the majority of the island will hopefully prevent a lot of deaths."

Deidara folded his arms behind his head as they walked and listened to Kisame. After the shark demon finished, the blonde muttered in a dry tone. "If the demons are too stupid to sense that, then maybe they _deserve_ to die."

Sasori sighed unnoticeably. "I would have to agree with Deidara on that point, though his lack of tact is unsurprising."

"What the hell does that mean, Sasori?"

Hinata couldn't help but giggle, enjoying how their quarreling reminded her of how Sasuke and Naruto always acted back at the temple. It managed to make her miss her old home a little less.

However, her giggles ceased as soon as they began walking through the "demon village". She supposed that, normally, other demons wouldn't have glanced twice their way if it weren't for _her _presence among them. Every single demon they passed would stop as if they had run into a pole, stopping to stare at the human in the middle of four elite demons—four of the leader's favorites.

Hinata watched as they stared at her, but none dared to do anything more than stare, though she figured that was because her mate was right next to her, and no demon seemed to want to anger her mate. In fact, she had yet to meet a demon that wasn't absolutely _petrified_ of Itachi.

It made her wonder what he had done in the past to promote such a wariness in those around him. She knew her mate was powerful, but the way the demons were acting around him made her wonder just _how _powerful he really was. Perhaps she had been more than lucky to have escaped his clutches all those years ago.

Should she be afraid of her mate's power? Should she be more cautious around him, suspicious of his temperament? Was she a fool for placing her life and soul at his mercy?

A gentle touch smoothed over the small of her back before tugging her close against his side, even though his gaze remained straight ahead. Whether it was a touch of comfort or reassurance, it managed to help her relax and stop looking at the gawking demons that lined the road upon which they walked.

It also helped her to remember that no matter how terrifyingly powerful he was, he was still _hers_.

* * *

Hinata didn't know she had expectations about their temporary living quarters until she finally saw it. While she had been camping out in the wilderness for a couple weeks now, she couldn't help feeling a tiny twinge of disappointment when she set eyes on the seaside shack that Kisame had set up for them. She was sure that it had character, but from the outside, it looked like it was going to crumble if the slightest breeze rushed passed it.

It made her bite her lip in uncertainty, though when she looked passed Itachi's skeptical gaze and focused on Kisame's expectant expression, she smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Kisame. It…It looks great."

Itachi gave her a narrowed gaze, something close to a glare, as if through looks alone, he could call her a liar. He and Hinata both knew that the place was nothing to brag about. It didn't look very big either.

Kisame laughed, not noticing Hinata's lie or Itachi's look of repulsion. "Go look inside and get settled in. I'll see you two later,"

As soon as he left, Hinata hesitantly walked toward the shack—err, house to do exactly as Kisame had suggested. So, with Itachi trailing her, Hinata approached the run-down place, taking the two steps up to the porch and opened the front door. As it creaked open, the curtain-less windows allowed enough light in so that they could see their surroundings.

There were no other doors except the one she entered from, but the windows were plenty. In the exact center of the shack/house, a fire pit lay, stones built around it to make it easier to manage. To her immediate left was something resembling a kitchen, and to her right was a small table, low to the ground, indicating that chairs would be nonsensical.

Finally, the back edge of the house was actually a platform, where she assumed their bedding would go. Turning back around to face Itachi, Hinata managed to glance outside, only to see that the porch provided a generous view of the sea. "It's…actually kind of cute." She smiled genuinely.

"It's a shelter and it's private." He remarked, settling his soft red eyes on her moon-like orbs. "It'll do for now."

She laughed breathily before eagerly setting up their bed and doing what cleaning she could. Meanwhile, Itachi had gone to collect firewood, knowing how cold it would get once the sun would set. Despite the unattractiveness of the place, he was grateful that it would be insulated enough to protect his sensitive mate from the cold, as well as private enough so that he could have her all to himself, despite the rest of the crowded island.

It wouldn't be until later that Hinata would contemplate how she would never take a roof for granted again.

An hour or so had passed before Hinata's stomach growled, informing her yet again that she needed to eat. It was then that she realized that she and Itachi hadn't eaten since that morning, and while she was sure that Itachi could go days without food, she knew that her human body would not be very happy if she made that same decision.

With a sigh, she scanned the cupboards for anything edible and only came up with some cooking utensils and pans, but no food. Itachi also hadn't tried to hunt since that incident in Iwa, so they had eaten nothing but whatever vegetation they had passed during their travels. That meant that they would need to restock on supplies, and if possible, she needed some clothes…badly.

Her mate had oh-so-lovingly destroyed her only nightgown and every other bit of clothing besides the gown she currently wore, and it was already fraying from just a couple weeks out in the wilderness. So, yes, she definitely needed some new clothes, and she wasn't desperate enough to start wearing Itachi's.

With another sigh, she approached the Uchiha demon. "Itachi? I need to get supplies." She waited until he was giving her his full attention before she continued with a blush tempting her cheeks. "We'll need some ingredients for dinner, and…I was hoping to get new clothes, but I don't know where—"

"It may not be exactly like a human marketplace, but Kiri is similar to it. There's a demon who can make you a few outfits, and some others who will have most of the ingredients you might need. We can go now if you're ready."

Her eyes brightened and she couldn't withhold her smile of happiness. "I'm ready,"

At that point, the door to the house had opened, the rusty hinges creaking in protest, and a familiar shark demon entered, smiling toothily at the pair. "I see you're settled in."

Itachi stood, Hinata joining him soon after. "What is it, Kisame?"

The blue demon revealed some type of rolled parchment in his hand, his smile flattening into something that wasn't amusement. "A note from the leader," he explained before tossing it to his partner, who caught it easily and began reading its contents.

"I see," he muttered, rolling it back up before meeting Hinata's eyes. "I have to meet with Sasori, but I'll take you into town as soon as I'm back."

"What does she need to go to town for?" Kisame questioned.

Since Itachi didn't seem to want to answer, Hinata did. "I just need to get some supplies."

"Oh, well, me and Deidara will take you. It's not like we have anything better to do."

"You will?" Hinata asked, hiding her skepticism beneath a humored smile.

"If Itachi doesn't mind,"

Both turned to the Uchiha in question, who glared at his partner, showing his reluctance to agree. He was about to adamantly refuse until Hinata placed her hand on his arm, drawing his attention to her look of pleading. With a roll of his eyes, he agreed. "Fine, but," he turned a warning glare back onto Kisame. "If you don't protect her according to my standards, then your plan to protect Kiri's residents will be for naught."

Not giving Kisame a chance to reply, Hinata leaned up on her toes to kiss her mate's cheek. "Thank you," she murmured before running out the door with Kisame in tow.

* * *

Deidara spread a piece of material in front of him, fingering the texture as if he were about to purchase it. "Hm," A hand suddenly landed on his shoulder before a fanged mouth appeared next to his ear.

"It's not your color."

"Shut up, Kisame, I'm just looking. Are you telling me you're not bored, too?"

"I'm not _that _bored."

"Hn. Is she done yet?"

Kisame looked over his shoulder at the dark-haired deity, who seemed uncomfortable with the demon that measured and prodded her, throwing different materials over her arms. It was actually kind of amusing to watch, especially since the girl was having trouble determining what gender the demon was.

The demon tailor was a hunched creature with a voice that was neither feminine nor masculine, but something completely neutral, and the baggy clothing it wore didn't help either. Kisame knew that the demon was male, but didn't feel like letting Hinata in on that information just yet.

Remembering Deidara's earlier question, Kisame answered him before trudging over to the two. "They're finishing up."

When the demon tailor had finished with his measurements, he turned to Kisame. "You can tell Itachi that the clothes will be ready in two or three days."

"Your work and time is appreciated." Came Kisame's absent reply.

The demon merely smiled maliciously. "It would not be wise of me to go against an Uchiha demon, so I will not go against his mate either."

"Good choice,"

"Kisame?" Hinata questioned softly. "I'm ready to go."

"Let's go then," he nodded before calling over to Deidara.

The blonde rushed over as they exited the tailor's "shop", and then the three immediately embarked on gathering the other supplies that Hinata needed. But it was while Hinata was gathering her ingredients that something occurred to her. No matter what she grabbed, no money was ever exchanged between her and the demons.

Some of the demons just gave her the ingredients, but with others, Kisame had to "kindly" inform them that she was mated to Itachi Uchiha, and they would hand over the ingredients, their gazes fearfully turning away from the deity, almost begging her to leave.

"Do demons not exchange any type of currency?" she asked as they wandered from one stand to another.

Kisame kept walking ahead, but Deidara stayed next to her, smiling wryly as he answered. "Our world's monetary system doesn't really exist; at least, not in the way it does for humans."

"What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "Humans have this weird obsession with economies and trade arrangements and whatnot. Personally, I never understood it. We demons are much more simple. Every now and then, we'll trade, but mostly…"

"Mostly?"

He smirked at her. "We take what we want _when _we want it."

She furrowed her brows, not liking such a prospect. "And the demons you take it from…don't mind?"

He shrugged again. "Not if they want to live." Then, he laughed as he nudged her. "It's a demon-kill-demon world, and you're right in the middle of it. But don't worry, we'll do the taking for you, since you obviously don't get too much of a kick out of it."

"Um…thank you?" Honestly, she had no idea how else to reply to that, and she figured anything other than a "thank you" would be lost on a demon like Deidara.

He only laughed more.

Kisame turned back to her at that point. "The only thing you have left to get is meat right? What kind did you want?"

"Um, definitely fish, though I don't know what kind yet."

"Fish?" Kisame asked, making his disbelief and doubt plain for her to see.

She tilted her head curiously. "What's wrong?"

He snorted. "Nothing, but good luck getting Itachi to eat it."

Her curiosity morphed into confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Itachi _hates _seafood. Back when we were first partnered together, and it was my turn to hunt, I brought back a nice big tuna, only to find out that he doesn't eat it—never liked the stuff, I guess."

"Oh, I…" her voice grew softer and quieter. "I didn't know that."

It was apparently Deidara's turn to look confused as he eyed the girl next to him. "So you mated a guy you don't even know, hm?"

"I…" she glanced between the two before settling her gaze on the ground. _How could I not know that about Itachi? Or, rather, why don't I know that?_

Ignorant to her inner dilemma, Kisame mentioned that he would find one of Itachi's preferred meats for her while the blonde stayed behind to guard her.

Hinata kept her gaze on the ground, her thoughts elsewhere. She'd known Itachi for over ten years, and yet she was beginning to realize how little she really knew about him. Was Deidara right? Had she mated someone she barely even knew?

Unfortunately, those thoughts refused to leave her be as they walked back to the seaside shack. Not once did she speak or look up until the crowds of demons thinned out and they were encroaching upon the end of the marketplace. It was only when Kisame and Deidara came to an immediate stop that Hinata finally looked up, noticing that a large group of demons had stationed themselves on the road, blocking the three from going any further.

Each of their gazes seemed rooted on Hinata, leering at her the way a predator leers at its soon-to-be prey.

Kisame and Deidara looked tired and irritated.

"So this is the Uchiha's mate," one the demons began to taunt.

"What a weak little thing."

"Itachi really lowered his standards with this one."

"Doesn't speak too highly of him, does it?"

"Nope, Itachi is dragging the Uchiha name through the mud by mating with a filthy human."

Kisame snorted, sharp teeth showing between his lips, one hand gripping around the hilt of his sword. "They get brave when Itachi isn't around."

"Yeah," Deidara agreed, his hand absentmindedly reaching into the small bag at his hip. "They look obstinate, too. I'll take care of 'em."

"Ha! Like I'll let you have all the fun."

What they weren't paying attention to was the deity behind them—the same demure deity who was becoming silently enraged by what the demons were saying. It was not so much what they were saying about her, as it was what they were saying about Itachi.

She supposed that if she were to focus rationally on her emotions, she would realize that she was not in control of herself, or rather, her emotions. She would also realize that it was possibly a part of being mated—this irrational fury that came when one's mate was being put in danger, verbal or otherwise.

While these demons hadn't made any intentions of physically harming her, especially with two elite demons nearby, they were taking great care to injure her simply through words alone. And, damn it, it was working.

"Hear that, human? Because of you, Itachi's reputation will be worse than pathetic."

"'Cause any demon that beds down with a human is scum."

"A disgrace,"

They were pushing her, jabbing her for weak spots, trying to unravel her resolve.

"You've made him weak."

"Hell, a human child could probably take him on and win now."

"That's how pathetic he's become."

It was making her angrier by the second.

"Are you listening, mate of Itachi Uchiha?" They sneered his name.

"What have you to say for yourself for _ruining _the respect of one of the elite?"

"For destroying what reputation he has left?"

That's it.

"Scum."

"Disgrace."

No more.

"Weak."

"Pathetic—Ah!"

Both Kisame and Deidara stood completely still in shock as they witnessed the unbelievable scene in front of them. One moment, they were listening half-heartedly to the insults that were being thrown around, though they were more focused on who was going to kill them off to really take too much notice and care about it.

To their immense surprise, Hinata apparently cared…_a lot_. This was made apparent when in the midst of their insults, Hinata had rushed between the two demons and straight toward the group of demons who had made it their goal to pester her in any way they could.

Kisame guessed that she didn't take those insults too well, seeing as she was in the middle of the group of demons, obviously trying to kill them. And, frankly, she was doing a fairly good job of it.

She had yet to kill any of them, but she had caught them all by surprise, taking that opportunity to severely injure and incapacitate them, using the style she had learned from the very demon they had been insulting not a moment prior. It was poetic justice at its finest, though Hinata didn't see it that way.

Her anger had clouded her so much that she couldn't focus on anything other than hurting them for the things they had said. It was baffling how little control she had over herself—_frightening_, really. But she couldn't stop, and that was perhaps even more baffling.

This fury that engulfed her being was so unlike her…so unlike a healing deity. It felt…_wrong_. So wrong that it finally made her pause, allowing one demon to dart forward to attack her.

The attack, of course, never came. Breathing heavily and still in a fighting position, she stared at the blue demon in front of her, or rather, his back, while knowing that Deidara was behind her, staving off whatever demons were left.

It was over rather quickly after that. One swipe of Kisame's sword and the small group of demons were no longer. In any other situation, Deidara would've complained, but he was too astounded to do that at the moment.

"Well, so much for preventing any deaths," Kisame muttered grumpily, taking a glance over his shoulder at the girl he protected.

Closing her eyes and releasing a shaky breath, Hinata eventually stared down at the bodies around her, her anger dissipating gradually. Despite that, her voice remained soft. "Just as my mate defends me, so I will defend my mate." _Even if the emotions invoked are against my will._

After disposing of the demons, Kisame and Deidara had their first real look at the human girl they had been guarding all day, and though they wouldn't admit it, they now had more than an ounce of respect for her, and perhaps… she was the perfect match for their comrade, after all.

"She's deserving of her title as Itachi Uchiha's mate." Kisame murmured, out of earshot of Hinata.

Deidara smirked in agreement. "Mm. I think I'm starting to like that little deity."

"Let's get her back to Itachi, shall we?"

* * *

When Itachi finally arrived back at the shack, it shouldn't have surprised him to see Kisame and Deidara there, as well, and he really wanted to doubt that they were there just to keep his mate company. Before he could even enter the house fully, Deidara had rushed at him, glancing over his shoulder. "You didn't bring Sasori with you? Whatever, I'll go get him and be right back. Don't wanna miss dinner, yeah!"

"Dinner?" Itachi murmured, seeing Hinata already cooking and Kisame kneeling at the small table…setting it for a meal?

He caught Hinata's welcoming smile, but she had turned back to cooking before he could fully assess why her smile seemed off. In fact, her whole posture seemed off, almost depressingly pensive.

Kisame interrupted his train of thought, calling his attention back to the small table. "Your mate was kind enough to invite us all for dinner. Hospitality must be a human custom, cause I'm _never _invited for dinner."

"I see," Itachi sighed wearily, not wishing to argue, and instead chose to sit at the table with his partner.

Not too long after, Deidara dragged a petulant-looking Sasori into the house, and Hinata greeted him before announcing that dinner was ready. Needless to say, it was incredibly odd to see a deity sitting at a table surrounded by some of the strongest demons alive, all of them eating somewhat amiably and having actual conversations.

Of course, Deidara took that moment to retell to Itachi and Sasori what happened at the marketplace. Hinata blushed and kept her gaze lowered to the table as the blonde recounted, with exaggeration, how the little deity had full-on attacked a group of demons, even managing to "knock them on their asses" before they knew what hit them, literally.

Sasori seemed bored, but Itachi couldn't stop staring at his mate, inwardly—proud?—at what his timid mate had done, and all because she felt the need to defend him. Perhaps he was more dumbfounded, for charging into a battle with demons without thinking was not something that Hinata would normally do.

She didn't seem too proud of it, either, which made him wonder if that was why she seemed so emotionally off at the moment. She avoided his gaze, but was more than willing to look at the others, and she even somehow managed to involve Sasori in conversation. Although, that was simply because the two had found something they had in common—antidotes and poisons.

Hinata knew her medicines as well as Sasori knew his poisons, and it appeared they were comparing certain plants that could be used as both a poison and a medicine.

"Have you ever used Monkshood?" Sasori asked blandly, arms resting on the table signaling that he had already finished eating.

Hinata's eyes narrowed in thought before brightening in remembrance. "Oh, yes, I've used it a couple times on certain patients."

"To kill them? Monkshood is completely toxic, causing death within three hours."

"That's true," Hinata argued softly. "But when mixed a certain way, it's perfect as a painkiller. It's the same for Yew trees, which are also toxic, but medicinally, they can also treat certain diseases and infections."

Sasori raised a brow, the corner of his mouth twitching upward. "I've used the toxin in Yew trees many times, but never as a medicine, only for a poison that will kill within twenty-four hours."

Hinata smiled. "It's taken a lot of experimentation, but it never surprises me how something so poisonous can also be the way to save a person's life from a serious illness."

"Hm, conversely, I have learned how to turn something once deemed harmless into a very fatal neurotoxin. Would _you_ know how to do that?"

She actually giggled. "Probably not, seeing as I seek to heal people, rather than harm them."

He grunted. "Sounds boring and artless." When she giggled again, he couldn't help the small smirk forming on his usually frowning lips. It was rare that he ever came upon someone, demon or human, that knew the medical field as well as he did. He supposed that she wasn't as much of a nuisance as he thought she would be; in fact, she actually knew how to converse intellectually, unlike his partner.

Refreshing…

Hinata was refreshing.

* * *

Later that night, Itachi lounged on their bed, supporting his body with one arm upright, elbow digging into the cushion. He lounged and watched his mate peacefully go through her nightly ablutions. In the midst of brushing her hair, he had to mention, "I sensed your anger earlier."

With her back to him, she stiffened.

"I could tell that you were angry, though I didn't know the source until Deidara retold the events at dinner." He paused, watching as she stayed so still. "You're not the reckless type, Hinata, nor are you hot-blooded. What happened?"

Her head lowered before she finally stood up and walked toward their bed, her gaze still averted from his. She didn't end up speaking until she had sat just across from her mate, her legs folded beneath her. "I don't know what happened, exactly. I never thought I was quick to anger, but the more they insulted you, the angrier I became until I just…snapped."

His brows furrowed, red eyes softening at the look of confusion, trepidation, and shame that contorted her delicate features.

She shook her head. "I couldn't think rationally at all—I had no control." Then, finally, she met his gaze. "Was it like this for you?" she referred to the Iwa and Kaiju incidents where she had been in danger and he had reacted as her mate.

He gave a brief nod before answering. "Yes," Absently admiring how demure and regal she looked, he continued in a smooth, almost hypnotizing tone. "Although the intent to kill is nothing new for a demon, I imagine that for you, it was uncomfortable. A healing deity is not meant for such emotions, nor does she carry any impulses to harm, even in self-defense."

"So, it _was _because of the mate connection." She half-questioned. "I mean, I know that their insults would've angered me regardless, simply because I love you, but…"

"The intensity of it was derived from the connection, the instinctive need to defend and protect. It was that intensity that made you lose control, and you lost control even further because you are not familiar with those kinds of emotions."

She smiled weakly. "I was not prepared for it, and I guess that's because not many healing deities have ever mated a demon."

He almost smiled. "You're the only one. In fact, you're not just the only deity to have ever mated a demon, but also the only human to have done so. It's only expected that you would not be prepared for it."

Smile still barely hanging onto her lips, she reached forward to take one his hands between her own, settling the weight on her lap, her gaze focused on tracing the lines of his palm. "I don't regret it, but…I also didn't like feeling those emotions either."

"It's done for a reason, Hinata." He mentioned, seeing her eyes settle on him in wonder, so he elaborated. "The intent to kill, protect, and defend become automatic instincts between mates, and it's done that way to protect not just the mate, but the connection."

Her brows pinched together. "I don't understand."

He continued. "According to legend, being mated to someone tended to become a vulnerability for both parties involved. If one were to get injured or die, the one left behind would suffer with a fate ten times worse; at least, until the one left behind died as well, rejoining their mate in the afterlife."

Her eyes widened slightly as pain clenched at her chest.

"That is why we lose control when one of us is being attacked, physically or verbally. Our mated bond requires our constant protection, which can be a vulnerability in and of itself."

"You mean, I…" she leaned forward, grasping his hand tighter between her own two hands. "I've become a vulnerability to you…and you allowed it."

He simply watched her silently, taking note of the emotions passing over her face and through their connection.

Love abounded in her heart, but her only outward way of showing it was by laying down next to him, wrapping her arms around his torso, and burying her face in his bare chest.

With a tender look she didn't see, he pulled her closer before leaning down to inhale the scent that carried from her hair.

The moment was spoiled when she tensed again, a sudden question forming from her lips. "Is it true that you don't like fish?"

Confusion settled in him as he looked down at the top her head with only a raised brow to signify such confusion. He almost wanted to ask her to repeat the question, even though he had heard it clearly. But the way she was tensing in his arms made him realize that something was bothering her. "What's wrong?"

"Is it true?" she persisted quietly.

Still confused, he answered. "Seafood never appealed to me, so yes, it's true. Now, tell me what's wrong."

She physically withdrew into herself, hiding her face from his view, her words becoming muffled against his skin. "It's just…I didn't know that you didn't like fish. Kisame had to tell me. I'm your mate, and I don't even know what your favorite foods are, or what you hate or don't like. I don't know when your birthday is or even how old you are." _I chained my soul to yours, and I know barely anything about you._

It suddenly occurred to Itachi that the same was true for him; though, the only reason he cared was because it seemed important to Hinata. Eventually, he smirked, trailing his hand down to her thigh before steadily moving back upward, inching her gown up in the process. "In that case," he quickly pulled her until she was laying underneath him. "What would you like to know first? My dislikes, or perhaps," he nuzzled her neck. "We can go over my likes first."

"I—" her breath hitched when his fingers passed over her stomach in a teasing manner. "I don't think you're taking this seriously."

"Hinata," he backed away until their gazes met. "I never understood why you humans placed such importance on birthdays—demons do not celebrate them. I remember that yours is on December twenty-seventh, and that you are only eighteen years of age. As for me, I was born on the ninth of June, and though I'm not certain, I believe I am two hundred and twenty-one years old. Does that answer your question?"

"Two—" she sputtered, disbelieving. "Two hundred?!"

He chuckled in amusement. "Am I too old for you?"

Almost too quietly for him to hear, she whispered. "Humans would call you a cradle-robber."

"Cradle-robber?" he question, obviously unfamiliar with the term.

"It's a phrase amongst humans…They would say that you being with me is like you robbing the cradle…"

He saw her embarrassed blush and he immediately understood what the phrase meant, which was why he leaned down to brush his lips against her face. "Have I robbed _your _cradle, Hinata?"

A shiver worked its way up and down her spine at those words that fell from his mouth, words that didn't seem innocent in any way. Gulping, she tried not to moan when his mouth began to work on her neck. "You've stolen a lot of things from me."

He nipped at her delicate skin, murmuring huskily. "Nothing you weren't willing to give. Does my age really bother you that much?"

"Um, it is a little disconcerting that you're t-two hundred and three years older than me…practically two centuries…"

He sighed in frustration, flipping them until she was lying on top of him, at which point he cupped her face in his palm. "It's a little too late to be concerned about that now that I have you. It is true that I've never liked seafood, and as for my favorite meal, the one you made tonight was probably it." He smiled slightly at her furious blush. "My age is obviously still bothering you, but you need to understand that age is not as important to demons as it is to humans.

"Humans are measured by experience, how many battles they've fought and won. To be honest, age doesn't matter to those who can live forever, though, there's only been one demon to surpass one-thousand years…and that's Madara Uchiha." His knuckles caressed her skin as he continued to explain. "To a human, I have lived the equivalent to two of their lifetimes, but to a demon, I am still quite young. Do you understand?"

Hinata nodded. "I think so…It's just strange for me to comprehend." She paused thoughtfully. "Ten years seems like a long time to me," she was obviously referring to the ten years she had been separated from him. "But I suppose to you, ten years can pass by in the blink of an eye."

Itachi reverted his gaze to the ceiling. "One hundred years can pass by in a blur for me, with only battles standing out in my memory. Even then, very few battles are memorable to me." His eyebrows furrowed for a quick second before clearing just as quickly. "However…only once has a duration of about ten years passed by slowly for me." He smirked at her knowingly.

Biting her lip, she bashfully lowered her gaze.

"Does my age still bother you?" he asked, still smirking in amusement.

She shook her head, smiling softly before leaning down to press her lips chastely against his. "Do you have a favorite color?"

"Mm, I've become very fond of white," he ran his fingers through her hair. "And indigo."

Giggling, she brushed loving kisses over his eyes. "Mine is red, I think."

"You're not certain?" he teased, slipping his hands underneath her gown, situating her until she straddled him just right. "Perhaps we should fix that."

Eyes half-lidded with sudden desire, she squirmed, hearing him hiss at the movement. So, of course, she moved her hips in such a way that left her gasping and him growling in response.

He gripped her gown. "Take this off. Now."

Obediently, she removed her gown at the same time that he undressed himself. In heated hurry, she was pressing against him again, moving in experimentation, testing out whatever rhythm would please them both.

Without preamble, he was inside of her, hands gripping her hips as he led her through the new position, both of them seeking to drag out the pleasure for as long as they could.

It wouldn't be until after their joining that both of them would decide that getting to know each other would be a good and pleasurable idea.

* * *

**A big thank you to my reviewers, and see you next chapter!**

**Have a great Halloween!**

**Tranquilwriter**


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